Business and Consumer Activity and Confidence (US)

The Manufacturing PMI® lesson discusses where to find it, how to forecast it, how it’s influenced, and how it influences financial markets and the economy. The manufacturing sector is capital intensive and requires the coordination of many moving parts of the economy. If one of the many contributors of the manufacturing sector appears weak, it’s likely a reflection of underlying weakness in the economy.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index lesson discusses where to find it, how to forecast it, how it’s influenced, and how it influences financial markets and the economy. Inflation can lead to constrained budgets, deteriorating purchase power, and difficulty planning for the future. Tracking the CPI for insights on how fast or slow prices are rising or falling is a critical component of effective economic analysis.

The Industrial Production lesson discusses where to find it, how to forecast it, how it’s influenced, and how it influences financial markets and the economy. Monitoring the monthly industrial production report is useful as it’s a strong gauge of consumer demand and confirms a growing or shrinking economy through an industrial lens.

The Personal Income and Outlays lesson discusses where to find it, how to forecast it, how it’s influenced, and how it influences financial markets and the economy. Watching the personal income and outlays report at the end of the month provides strong awareness concerning the path of the U.S. economy and the path of the FED.

The Consumer Confidence lesson discusses how it’s calculated, where to find it, how to forecast it, how it’s influenced, and how it influences financial markets and the economy. Measuring the confidence of U.S. consumers is important because they are a large source of company revenues and economic activity globally.

The Retail Sales lesson discusses how it’s calculated, where to find it, how to forecast it, how it’s influenced, and how it influences financial markets and the economy. Measuring the dollars spent by U.S. consumers is useful as they are a large source of company revenues and economic activity globally.