The Trader’s Guide to Key Economic Indicators

The Trader’s Guide to Key Economic Indicators examines the most important economic statistics currently used on Wall Street. In a straightforward and accessible style, it tells you exactly what these reports measure and what they really mean. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, this reliable resource sheds some much-needed light on theses numbers and data releases and shows you what to look for and how to react to various economic indicators.

Author’s Introduction:

This book was written primarily for those traders and investors lacking a formal introduction to the most popular economic indicators on Wall Street. Just because an individual is entrusted with investing millions of dollars does not guarantee a practical command of economic indicators and their meaning for investment.

When newly minted MBAs arrive on the trading floors of financial firms, for example, few are equipped with a complete appreciation of these indicators— no matter from which institution that degree has come. My years of experience on a few of the largest trading floors in the world has suggested the need to fill what can be viewed as a surprisingly expansive void regarding indicators, statistics, the economic meaning of the associated figures, and the market’s likely reaction.

Those new to the field of investing and economics, including students of the subject, also should benefit from the fundamental, application – oriented nature of this book. As most academics know, if students cannot see the results or directly test theories with practical data, the knowledge they hold tends to remain more theoretical than real – world and they eventually may lose interest in the field.

It is here that many future economists are lost. As exercises within an imperfect science, experiments conducted in the social discipline of economics are predominantly theorized or hypothesized and seldom tested with tangible data. In this sense, economists are not as fortunate as physicists or natural scientists, who conduct experiments in a controlled environment such as a laboratory, riverbed, or ocean. The economic indicators contained in these chapters serve as concrete guideposts within the discipline of economics, and as such make experimentation, testing, and study for investments not only possible but understandable.

Contents:

• Gross Domestic Product
• Indexes of Leading, Lagging, and Coincident Indicators
• The Employment Situation
• Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
• Institute for Supply Management Indexes
• Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
• Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales
• New Residential Construction
• Conference Board Consumer Confi dence and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Indexes
• Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services
• Personal Income and Outlays
• Consumer and Producer Price Indexes
• The Fixed-Income Market
• Commodities

The Trader's Guide to Key Economic Indicators By Richard Yamarone pdf