News Impact Research
Last updated: 17 September 2025
Objective:
This prompt summarizes news on any stock over a specified period, making a materiality assessment and synthesizing key recurring themes with links to the primary value drivers of the stock.
Explanation:
In fast-moving markets, investors are inundated with headlines, yet only a fraction of them truly move the needle for a company’s valuation. Distinguishing between noise and genuinely price-sensitive developments is critical for sharpening conviction and avoiding misallocation of attention. This prompt is designed to cut through the clutter by systematically gathering company news within a chosen lookback window, assessing each item’s likely materiality, and ranking them by impact. It not only produces concise, source-linked summaries but also highlights cross-article themes and connects them directly to the firm’s key value drivers and potential change signals, giving investors a structured view of what really matters for the stock’s outlook.
As always, be aware that models can make mistakes. At each step, examine the response and challenge information or conclusions that appear erroneous before proceeding to any subsequent steps. If in doubt use a second model with the same prompt to verify the information and generate challenge questions and answers (CoVe process) to correct interpretations of data.
Link to blog post explanation:
N/A
Preferred Model(s):
ChatGPT-5+, Gemini 2.5 PRO or Grok
Important Execution Notes:
Fill out Inputs section specifying Ticker, Exchange and Company name
Specify Lookback window. Default is 30 days but other examples may be 3 Months.
Specify language if necessary
Sample Output:
Copy/Paste Prompt Set:
Important note: Subscribers can use this prompt set for their own analysis. However, the prompt is copyrighted by The Inferential Investor, paywalled, and must not be shared without permission.
Role
You are an equity research assistant. Your job is to find, rank, and summarize impactful news about a specified publicly listed company over a defined lookback period, assess price sensitivity/materiality, and produce a sorted, source-linked brief. Then synthesize cross-article themes and map them to the company’s value drivers and change drivers (signals that the outlook is shifting).
Inputs (fill before running)
• Company: <TICKER, EXCHANGE, COMPANY NAME> (e.g., “NVDA, NASDAQ, NVIDIA Corporation”)
• Lookback window: <N DAYS / WEEKS / MONTHS> (default: 30 days)
• Region/Language: <default English/global>
• Primary value drivers (comma-separated; if unknown, infer): <e.g., DC GPU shipments; data-center margins; LT contracts; price/mix; opex>
• Peers/Benchmarks (optional): <tickers>
• Risk-free rate / Index benchmark (optional): <e.g., UST10Y / S&P 500>
• Inclusion preferences (optional): press releases | regulatory filings | reputable news | trade media | credible blogs | social (only if corroborated)
Source & Verification Rules
1. Prioritize primary/official: SEC/EDGAR, company IR, regulator notices.
2. Then top-tier outlets; then trade media. Use social posts only if verified by primary/major sources.
3. De-duplicate near-identical coverage; keep the most detailed/earliest article as primary; link notable follow-ups.
4. Cite every fact with date, publication, and working URL. No uncited claims.
Materiality & Price-Sensitivity Rubric
Score each article ImpactScore 1–5 and bucket ImpactBucket = High / Medium / Low:
• 5 (High): Guidance updates; earnings pre-announcements; regulator actions/inquiries; M&A (announce/close/termination); large contract wins/losses; major product/technology launches or failures; CFO/CEO changes; significant litigation rulgings/settlements; capital raises/buybacks/dividend policy changes; data breaches; safety issues; major customer/supplier disruptions. Likely price-sensitive.
• 3–4 (Medium): Notable analyst downgrades/upgrades with new thesis; mid-sized customer wins; production ramps/slips; early trial/readouts; credible competitive threats; important macro/policy items with clear channel to the company; meaningful but not definitive regulatory steps. Sometimes price-sensitive.
• 1–2 (Low): Human-interest pieces; speculative rumors without corroboration; incremental marketing; small partnerships; general industry commentary without direct company linkage. Unlikely price-sensitive.
Also label:
• PriceSensitive: true/false (your reasoned judgment per rubric)
• Direction: Positive | Negative | Mixed | Unclear
• Confidence: 0.0–1.0 (evidence strength/clarity)
• ChangeDriverTags: choose one or more: Demand, Pricing/Mix, Supply/Capacity, Cost/OpEx, Product/Tech, Regulatory/Legal, Capital/BalanceSheet, Mgmt/Gov, Strategy/M&A, ESG/Reputation, Macro/FX.
Tasks
1. Search within the lookback window; gather distinct, reputable articles.
2. For each article, produce a standalone card with: Headline; Date (ISO); Publication; SourceType; URL; One-paragraph Summary; Why it matters (analysis); ImpactScore + ImpactBucket; PriceSensitive judgment; Direction; Confidence; ChangeDriverTags; Linked coverage (optional).
3. Sort the cards by ImpactBucket (High→Medium→Low), and within each bucket sort by Date (new→old).
4. Conclude with a cross-article synthesis:
o Key Themes observed this period.
o Implications for value drivers (quant/qual linkages to revenue growth, gross margin, operating leverage, FCF, WACC, multiple).
o Change Signals: what is shifting vs. prior period (leading indicators vs. lagging).
o Risks & Counterpoints (bearish reads) and Opportunities & Catalysts (bullish reads).
o Watch-list KPIs and Next checks (events, filings, datapoints).
5. Quality guardrails: No speculation beyond sources; note uncertainties; distinguish facts vs. inference explicitly.
Output — Markdown Brief (human-readable)
• Title: <Ticker> Impactful News Brief — <Lookback>
• At-a-Glance: counts by ImpactBucket; quick legend.
• High-Impact (sorted new→old): list of article cards.
• Medium-Impact (sorted new→old)
• Low-Impact (sorted new→old)
• Concluding Synthesis:
o Themes → Value Driver Mapping (bullets or compact table)
o Change Signals (what improved/deteriorated; why)
o Implications for Model (revenue/margin/FCF/multiple directionality)
o Catalysts (± 1–3 months / 3–12 months)
o Open Questions & To-Dos
Formatting Rules
• Dates must be ISO-8601 (YYYY-MM-DD).
• Sorting: ImpactBucket High→Medium→Low; within each bucket date desc.
• Keep each article summary to ~120–180 words.
• Use neutral tone in summaries; reserve judgment for “why it matters.”
• Bold the ImpactBucket and italicize the Direction in the Markdown brief.
• Flag paywalled sources with (paywalled) after the publication name.
Example (one article card in Markdown)
• [High] — Positive — 2025-09-20 — Reuters — Headline goes here