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Investing

Economic Data

Concentration risk management
Investing
Concentration risk: When winners (and company shares) take over your portfolio
Good eggs may need more baskets.
Treasury securities
Investing
Treasury securities: Bonds, notes, and bills
Different maturities, same “full faith and credit” guarantee.

Recently Updated

  • When the economy goes south: Recessions, explainedThese declines affect everyone.
  • The Consumer Price Index goes thriftingUsed clothes. New inflation math.
  • The rules for the job market have changedFewer new jobs may be enough to keep unemployment low—but finding one can be tough.

See All

A trio of inflation indicators: CPI, PPI, and PCE
Price indexes to track inflation.
An alchemy of assets: Understanding the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet
Your Fed balance sheet cheat sheet.
Consumer spending: Here are the top reports to follow
Tracking the state of the consumer.
Dots and dollars: The Fed dot plot, explained
For interest rate projections, read between the dots.
Durable goods report: Reading the economy’s big-ticket purchases
Follow the money. And the machinery.
Economic cycles: Investing through boom and bust
Four phases to monitor.
GDP price deflator: Nominal output vs. real output
For apples-to-apples comparisons, check what apples cost last year.
Gross domestic product (GDP): Measuring economic output
It’s like taking the economy’s temperature.
How housing inflation is measured: Prices, rent, and construction costs
No single number tells the full story.
Inflation impact: Rising prices project strength, but too much is painful
Why Goldilocks inflation is best.
Inflation, deflation, and the “Goldilocks scenario”
Too hot, too cold, or “just right?”
Jobless claims and JOLTS: Piecing together the job market jigsaw
The puzzling job of analyzing jobs.
K-shaped economy: When growth moves in two different directions
A tale of two recoveries.
Labor force participation rate: Completing the employment picture
Even the jobs report gets participation points.
Private economic reports: What they can tell you about the economy
There’s more than one way to read the economy.
The Consumer Price Index goes thrifting
Used clothes. New inflation math.
The alphabet soup of unemployment data: U-3, U-6, and beyond
Unemployment, underemployment, and marginal attachment.
The economics of drought
When the rain stops, the ripple effects can reach far beyond the farm.
The government’s stimulus toolbox: Fiscal and monetary policy
Purse strings and spigot.
The rules for the job market have changed
Fewer new jobs may be enough to keep unemployment low—but finding one can be tough.
Understanding consumer confidence and consumer sentiment data
Wallets open or closed?
Wall Street’s winged icons: How hawks and doves shape the economy
Hawks remove the punch bowl; doves spike the punch.
What does the monthly jobs report tell us and why is it so important?
The big kahuna of government economic reports.
What housing market data can indicate about the broader economy
Home sweet home.
What is reshoring, and why are American companies shifting toward it?
Globalization in reverse? Deglobalization?
What is stagflation? A double whammy of headwinds
When the economy slows, but prices don’t get the memo.
What is the U.S. monthly retail sales report and why does it matter?
Are consumers spending or not?
What is the industrial production and capacity utilization report?
A way to mine for economic clues.
When the economy goes south: Recessions, explained
These declines affect everyone.
When trade policy turns contentious: Tariffs, currency devaluation, and other trade barriers
The high cost of trade wars: Tools, tactics, and turmoil
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