Always think long term, buy quality stocks that pay a dividend, diversify, and DO NOT MAKE ANY INVESTMENT DECISIONS BASED ON WHAT THE MEDIA SAYS. Of course, this is just my advice and you can take it or leave it, but if you are always reacting to the media and making your investment decisions based on that, you are very likely to lose over and over again. The only thing the media is good for these days is entertainment. There is no real news reported anymore and that correlates to the financial news as well. The media can create moves in the market with what it reports and that is usually the intent of the spin, but do not fall prey to it. Just hold steady and stay the course. If you want some good conversation and information from real people, some of whom are very knowledgeable, sign up at seeking alpha online. There are articles discussing any investment topic you can imagine, and the comments at the end of the articles are very informative as well.
I think it really depends on what information you're talking about. We all know that people in the market will be buying on the rumor and selling on the fact, and vice versa. So there is often some trading value in the information. But I wouldn't get sucked into the financial news entertainment industry. They need to generate stories to keep you fixed on the TV. The only type of rumors that I really take note of are accounting irregularities. Anything associated with potential fraud is a good enough reason to make a decision on an investment. That sort of stuff can be terminal.
