Top-Notch Wall Street Expected Economic Indicators
Up-to-the-minute news from the financial market is essential to wise investment decisions. To get this timely information, the IBD and WSJ are key. You gain an edge when ascertaining reliable metrics along with spot-on insights about market forces and economic trends.
Best economic indicators change before the economy changes. These indicators are gross domestic product (GDP) reports, consumer price index (CPI) reports, the producer price index (PPI), employment indicators, retail sales index, the national association of purchasing management index (NAPM), the consumer confidence index, durable goods order, employment cost index (ECI) and the productivity report which measures how much output is created by a unit of labor.
If there aren’t any signs of the economy turning around, one of the first telltale signs is the Consumer Confidence Indicator. It is published in the Wall Street Journal and other leading financial papers.
Consumer confidence numbers are part of a particular set of statistics that are known as ”leading indicators”. They can reveal economic trends several weeks before harder objective data makes it apparent.
The consumer confidence index is arrived at through a random sample of interviews of consumers. These selections are a relative representation of attitudes and population of the country as a whole. The data gathered is weighted by different regions, income groups and occupations.
The prevailing theory is that high consumer confidence is key to economic growth. This data is released on the final Tuesday of any given month at 10:00 a.m. EST. The report reveals how confident consumers are about the economic state and how willing they are to spend money.
The stock market is historically the prime leading indicator of the direction of the economic condition. It usually leads the real economy by about half a year.
This being said, even in a downturn, there can be fake out’s or dead cat bounces before a market resumes a downward plunge. Or, in a raising market, there can be sudden plunge that leaves a lot of investors scratching their heads as to why the markets behave that way. Financial and psychological damage will leave opportunities to enter markets for those who study the financial news. Get a Wall Street Journal subscription and read about CPI news as it happens.
