Economic calendars
An economic calendar is a tool that tracks the scheduled release of significant economic reports and events, such as GDP data, employment figures, and central bank meetings. Traders and investors use economic calendars to anticipate market movements and adjust their strategies based on the potential impact of these events. By staying informed about key economic indicators, they can make better-informed decisions and manage risks associated with market volatility.
Because it’s so rich the economic calendar can be filtered by country, type of announcement, dates and so forth. They show the event, the asset affected, when the publication happens, expected, past and up-to-date figures, and one more lovely little feature. Click on the event and you usually get an explanation of what it is and a link into its history.
To remind you, the consensus is obtained through a list of expert analysts from all over – not always related to the publisher. And once the figure is released, we need to assess if it’s within the expectations or outside and where – above or below. As you can see here, the Energy Information Agency figure for last week was higher than expected, and here we have oil reacting accordingly. The numbers caught the analysts off-guard.
Now, basically, we have 3 different types of indicators – leading, lagging and coincidental. The first are those that anticipate price movements. Bond yields are an excellent example. They tell us if investors are optimistic or pessimistic about a country’s economy. Housing starts, although they tell us what HAPPENED, can predict buyer expectations and money supply. Lagging indicators follow an event. The consumer price index, for example, reports on consumer inflation that WAS during the past month. And coincidental indicators talk about present conditions, such as personal income or gross domestic product.
The one you’ve probably heard the most about is the non-farm payrolls, which reports on paid, NON-seasonal US workers. But there’s oh so many more. GDP and CPIs I just mentioned. Consumer confidence is also quite important. Producer Manager’s indexes tell us how much companies are buying and also reflects corporate sentiment. Unemployment, retail sales. Trade balance tells us how much a country has sold and how much it’s bought abroad. Many of these will directly influence a central bank the next time they meet to determine interest rates and monetary policy. HOW important in indicator is, is indicated here y the color code. In some places it’s a multi-icon – 3 for important, 1 for negligible.
In short it’s all there, right in front of you, at your fingertips, and you don’t need to have a masters degree to understand it. Some people would say that’s all the news there is. All the rest is stories to fill in the gaps.