Being able to identify the events and announcements that can potentially move the stock is a tremendous asset. All that information is available on the Market Movers and Shakers section of The Dedicated Trader's Trading Center.

The Market Movers and Shakers section lists economic reports and political events which have the potential to move and shake the market. The events are updated each day and focus on the current trading week.

The information presented includes an economic calendar, an earnings calendar, a splits calendar, an interactive calendar, potential stock splits, announced splits, and economic events.

The economic events calendar also includes Fed events and provides the date, the time of the announcement, and what the outcome is expected to be. Economic events may include consumer confidence, crude inventories, durable goods, new home sales, personal income, personal spending, auto sales, truck sales, pending home sales and crude inventories. Specific reports may rock the market, while others (particularly those issued weekly) may have little effect.

The Fed schedule is important to watch, especially when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke opts to speak in public. When Bernanke speaks, the market will often move accordingly.

Another portion of the site includes stock upgrades and downgrades. If a brokerage firm changes the status of a stock, it will be listed here. Perhaps the stock has been upgraded from a hold status to a buy status; that could be construed by many as a potentially bullish move. If a stock is downgraded from hold status to sell status, that news could be seen as a potentially bearish move. Sometimes it will even list a target price, as set by the brokerage firm. No all upgrades and downgrades carry the same weight; the small houses may barely move the needle when they change a status, while the big brokerage houses may carry a great deal of weight.