[HELP REQUEST] How to prepare for the markets for S&T Interview?

Hi,

Questions: How would you go about "following the markets" for S&T/trading internships? S&T interviewers, what do you ask and what are you looking for in the markets portion of an interview?

Also please critique my preparation methods:

1) Prepare for the classics

• cheat sheet table of indices on the day of the interview
• how would you invest 1 mil
• 1 Long/1 Short stock pitch - First pitch: FT, WSJ, and Bloomberg. There is nothing "revolutionary" or "contrarian" about what I'm saying. I suspect this may be what is getting me dinged in interviews. I say everything with confidence and conviction, so is this the case? Must I come up with my own radical revelations re: markets?

Also, for the stock pitches/ideas: I have only got my info from Seeking Alpha, Motley Fool, etc. and I feel like a complete impostor just essentially rephrasing and regurgitating what others have written. I use my stock pitch for the Student Investment Club on campus, but 75%-80% of the content comes from these sites. These are heavily biased and unoriginal, and I know I'm supposed to "do research of my own" and "dig into 10-Ks" etc but how do I go about doing that? How to find an "edge" and have a stock pitch that knocks socks off?

I guess it's really just me feeling confused and unoriginal: I'm always told you have to be pigheaded and to "have your own opinions" to succeed in this industry, and I'm just reading articles and basically repeat (more or less) in interviews what others have written on the WSJ and Seeking Alpha, etc. and maybe that's what's getting me dinged in interviews.

I imagine the trading floors to be all contrarians then, but there is only so many opinions that can be thrown around, right? If anyone could provide guidance, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for reading.