Financial news releases happen almost every trading day, and because of the different trading regions (US, Europe, Asia, etc.), news releases happen throughout the trading day. Financial news releases include company specific fundamentals such as earnings reports, and regulatory approvals, and also general economic fundamentals such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and interest rates.
How the Markets React
Some financial new releases will make the markets react in unexpected and erratic ways, such as large quick moves in both directions, or intraday price gaps. How dramatically the markets are affected depends upon the type of news being releases. For example, a company specific new release (such as an earnings report), might only affect a single stock or a specific sector (such as tech stocks). Whereas an interest rate announcement might affect not only the markets in the associated region (US, Europe, Asia, etc.), but also markets throughout the world.
To Trade or Not To Trade
Day traders are divided into two opposing groups whenever the question of trading during news releases comes up. The first group (approximately 50%) believe that the new releases affect the markets in unexpected ways (such as quick large moves in both directions), so they will avoid trading during new releases by making sure that they are flat (i.e. do not have any active trades). The second group (the other 50%) believe that their technical analysis of the past market data already includes many news releases, so there is no reason to stop trading during future news releases.
Whether you should continue trading through the news releases or not, depends upon how the news releases affect your trading system. If your trading system is based upon something that the news can affect (such as the range of the most recent bar), then perhaps it might be wise to be flat during news releases. Whereas if your trading system is based upon something more insulated from the news (such as a price pattern that involves several bars), you may be able to trade through news releases unaffected by any market reaction.
Economic Calendar
The weekly economic calendar on the day trading site includes the financial news releases from the US, Europe, and Asia. The calendar also includes the volatility expectations of the news releases, so that the high volatility news (such as interest rates) can be easily identified.
