Each month in this Journal, our technical support staff addresses issues of interest to many CSI subscribers in a question and answer format. 

Notice:
  The views and information expressed in this document reflect the opinions and experience of the author Robert C. Pelletier.  Neither CSI nor the author undertake or intend to provide tax advice or trading advice in any market or endorse any outside individual or firm.  All recommendations are provided for their informational value only.  Readers should consult competent financial advisors or outside counsel before making any software purchase or investment decision.  CSI does not stand behind or endorse the products of any outside firms.

Copyright (c) 2002 Commodity Systems Inc. (CSI).  All rights are reserved.

    On March 4th, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange started GLOBEX trading of live cattle, lean hogs, and feeder cattle. CSI's traditional data series for these commodities (#2, #4 and #33, respectively) became full-session series, including both GLOBEX and day-session data. The new series listed on page 6 (CSI numbers 694, 695 and 696) are day-session-only counterparts. This protocol was also used on February 19 when the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (#266) became combined data and a new data set (#688) was added as a day-only series.

Late-Breaking News:

    Mini Coffee "C" (#697, MK) futures began trading 3/15/02 and S&P Topix 150 (#698, XT) futures began trading 3/18/02. Details are available on the CSI website and in the UA factsheets.

A.
   "Tomorrow's Newspaper" is posted daily at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (perhaps a little earlier). This allows time for the CSI host computer to produce correlation studies and charts for all of the various (35,000) stocks and commodities. These are calculated on the last 12 years of daily price history. The correlation studies involve pairing about 800 commodities with each other, so the charts require some 320,000 correlations to be computed before any can be displayed. Computing bar charts for all of the stocks is the most time-consuming job. We hope you find this valuable information worth the wait.

Q.
   When I checked the Online Newspaper yesterday, I started reading an interesting article on oil prices. I would like to finish it today, but it is no longer listed on your website. Can I go back to yesterday's news?

A. 
   The headlines we post are links to articles published by various reporting agencies, so each one takes you to the appropriate website to read the article. As the headlines are intended to be timely and links may quickly become outdated, we do not keep an archive of past postings. To return to a featured article, try bookmarking the source website before exiting.

The "News Headlines" are updated by 3:00 p.m. and can be viewed at the top of "Tomorrow's Newspaper" or on the screen from which you enter the Online Newspaper. For the latest headlines before 9 p.m., read them before entering the Online Newspaper section. 

Q.
   Can I view "Tomorrow's Newspaper" without going through a complete data download?

A.
   Yes. If you have Unfair Advantage® (UA) version 2.4.4, there's an option on the Trading Tools menu to "Read Tomorrow's Newspaper." This feature brings you directly to the CSI website to view the latest update. If you do not have version 2.4.4, you can reach the Newspaper without initiating a download by selecting it from the "Support" page of the CSI website at www.csidata.com. , which has the current Online Newspaper.

Q. 
   Where can I learn more about using the Online Newspaper?

A. 
   The UA Online Manual has been updated to include a new chapter with many topics and a "troubleshooting" entry on "Tomorrow's Newspaper Today." Users of UA version 2.4.4 may download the manual free of charge from the CSI website.

Q. Does UA offer more studies than the five listed on the Chart Tools menu?

A.
   Yes. Several additional studies are available in the Advanced section. To find them, simply pull down the Chart Tools menu and click "Apply Study." Next click the [Set Study] button and then the [Advanced] button. From the advanced programming dialog, right-click the memo box (or if two are visible, right-click the top one) to display a menu of studies that can be modified for custom analysis. The offerings include Williams' Ultimate Oscillator, Average True Range, Wilder's ADX, Bollinger Bands and others.