Valuable Indicators and Where to Find Them
One of the best places to find all of the important economics indicators is in the "Market Laboratory" section of the weekly paper Barron's. Here, the important indicators are summarized together in a two-page summary. The advantage of a weekly review of this type is that it enables you to scan the entire range of important indicators. It is rare that a single indicator will provide you with a snapshot of national economic health with more clarity than reviewing all of the indicators at the same time.
KEY POINT
A review of a range of economic indicators provides insight into the economy in general, whereas a single indicator, reviewed in isolation, is not as valuable.
You may be interested in only two or three indicators, and it is a certainty that some have gained more attention than others in the minds of investors. Among many investors whose interest is more toward technical analysis than the fundamentals, economic indicators seem remote, indeed. This has given rise to many generalizations about the meaning or importance of economic indicators. In practice, though, they are just that: indicators. Like the fundamentals of a company, economic indica-tors provide general ideas about the state of things, and not absolutes,
Stock market participants usually are particularly concerned about changes in interest rate levels, anticipating the inflow or outflow of investment dollars between stocks and bonds, or between the stock market and other markets. There is more, and some indicators influence some industries more than others.
Below we will discuss key indicator ranges of inflation, employment levels, money supply, interest rates, national debt, business and economic measurements, and stock market and investor sentiment.