Market forecasting can seem like a futile exercise. After all, 95% of the time, predicting what will happen next is impossible. But Justice Litle says its the huge opportunities on offer in the other 5% that make investing worthwhile. Here, he explains how traders can draw inspiration from ice-hockey legend Wayne Gretzky…

This from Taipan Daily:

Wayne Gretzky is widely regarded as the greatest ice hockey player of all time.

At first glance this is an odd thing. When you think of hockey players, you normally picture big, burly, broken-nosed guys with hulking frames and lighting-fast reflexes. (Or at least that’s what I picture. But then I’m not Canadian, eh.)

Gretzky, in contrast, was never all that big. At six feet and 185 pounds, he comes up an inch shorter than your humble editor (who also happens to weigh 185).

That’s not a lot of

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I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.~Wayne Gretzky

On this week's earnings preview I wrote this in regards to Deere (DE):Major ag equipment player Deere (DE) - I don't own the equipment stocks anymore; at some point the rising cost of steel, petrol products and the like will be hurting the bottom line unless they can pass all the costs along to farmers - over the next year if inflation does not abate this is the type of company who could see profit margins squeezed simply from the constant increase in input costs.Here are the results - looks like a good call with the stock down 8%. Sometimes a rising tide (agriculture boom) does lift all boats. But sometimes you need to think farther ahead than that - as Wayne Gretzky says - don't be where the puck is, be where it's going to be. ("I ...