The Basis is information
The underlying feature of trading the stock market is one of information. Information generates ideas, possibilities, theories. Those can be utilized for action. The following is how it's done.
Journals
The New York Times Barron's The Wall Street Journal The Financial Times (U.K.) Business Standard(India)
South China Morning Post(Hong Kong /now free) Nikkei Asian Review Forbes Peoples Daily(China) The Globe and Mail
The National Post Business Times (Singapore) Yonhap News Agency (Korea) Pulse (Korea) (all via the web and most behind paywalls)
Web Sites
Equitymaster(India) CNBC.Com Bloomberg.com Yahoo.com Australia Market Watch.com CBC.com
Reuters.com BigCharts.com Google News (Canada& U.S. versions/ business, technology and science) BBC.com iVIEW Markets (most free, with extras for a fee)
The Process
The reading starts usually around 07:00hrs Central Standard Time. The Asian markets have closed, the European Markets are well into their day, and the North American are in pre-opening trading. CNBC has a module that indicates the stock market levels of the major exchanges around the world grouped by the three major economic zones, currently Asia, Europe and the U.S.. The reading starts with Asia, then to Europe and finally to the U.S., by which time the Advanced Dashboard in TD WebBroker has been opened, with streaming live quotes for Canada and the U.S. Then into the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The New York Times and the Globe and Mail while monitoring the trades and open positions. The trading day ends around three with the market close, then it's on to the rest of one's life. Simple as that.