Track US Economy

BECOME YOUR HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIST | TRACK THE US ECONOMY ON YOUR OWN

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Below are 24 of the most important economic indicators used by professionals to gauge the strength and direction of the US economy. If you don't trust the media filter, or want to drill down deeper into the economic indicators used by policy makers like those at the Federal Reserve, build your own spread sheet by hand, or on excel, and track the US economy yourself following the data points below. After a few months you'll begin to be able to notice trends and areas of strength and weakness across sectors. Economic data is released on a regular basis. Both Yahoo.com, and Bloomberg.com have good economic calenders.

Have fun!

Initial Unemployment Claims (IC) - weekly (thousands): US Dept. of Labor

ADP Employment Report (ADP) - monthly (thousands): ADP

Institute for Supply Management Manufacturers Purchasing Managers Index (ISM) - monthly (index): ISM

Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturers Purchasing Managers Index (ISM-NM) - monthly (index): ISM

Construction Spending (CS) - monthly (percent change): US Census Bureau

Factory Orders (FO) - monthly (percent change): US Census Bureau

Pending Home Sales Index (PHS) - monthly (index): National Association of Realtors

Employment Situation Summary - monthly: US Dept. of Labor

Non-farm Payrolls (NFP) (thousands)

Unemployment Rate (URATE) (percent)

Average Workweek (AWW) (percent change)

Average Hourly Earnings (AHE) (percent change)

International Trade Balance (TB) - monthly (billions): US Census Bureau

Retail Sales (RS) - monthly (percent change): US Census Bureau

Empire State Index (ESI) - monthly (index): Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Producer Price Index (PPI) - monthly (percent change): US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Consumer Price Index (CPI) - monthly (percent change): US Bureau of Labor Statistics

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (MCS) - monthly (index): University of Michigan (subscription)

Housing Starts (HS) - monthly (thousands of units on annualized basis): US Census Bureau

Existing Homes Sales (XHS) - monthly (millions of units on annualized basis): National Association of Realtors

Durable Goods Orders (DG) - monthly (percent change): US Census Bureau

New Home Sales (NHS) - monthly (thousands of units on annualized basis): US Census Bureau

Consumer Confidence (CC) - monthly (index): The Conference Board

Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (CPMI) - monthly (index): Institute for Supply Management Chicago

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - quarterly (percent change): US Bureau of Economic Analysis