The Consumer Confidence Index - CPI Index
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Timely financial news is the key to making intelligent investment decisions. The two main financial newspapers are the Investment Business Daily and The Wall Street Journal. When reliable metrics are tracked coupled with expert insight on market forces and economic tendencies you gain an edge.
Leading economic indicators change before the economy changes. These indicators are gross domestic product (GDP) reports, consumer price index (CPI) reports, the producer price index (PPI), employment indicators, retail sales index, the national association of purchasing management index (NAPM), the consumer confidence index, durable goods order, employment cost index (ECI) and the productivity report which measures how much output is created by a unit of labor.
How both can impact your everyday finances and personal investments is a matter of systematic review and then taking action. One of the major telltale signs of economic direction is consumer confidence and is published in the Wall Street Journal and other leading financial papers. It is one of the first signs that the current economic downturn is waning.
Consumer confidence numbers belong to a special group of statistics that are known as 'leading indicators'. They can show trends in the economy several weeks before they become apparent by harder objective data.
Consumer confidence numbers are arrived at through interviews with a random sample of consumers. These random selections are geared as a relative representative of attitudes and population structure of the country as a whole. Data point answers are weighted according to different income groups, occupations, and regions.
Many believe that a high consumer confidence is crucial to economic growth. These figures are released on the last Tuesday of the month at 10 am EST. This report measures how confident consumers feel about the state of the economy and their spending spark, or lack thereof.
Although a bit more futuristic, the stock market is normally a leading indicator of market direction. Historically, it has always led the real economy by about six months.
This being said, even in a downturn, there can be fake out's or dead cat bounces before a market resumes a downward plunge. Or, in a raising market, there can be sudden plunge that leaves a lot of investors scratching their heads as to why the markets behave that way. Financial and psychological damage will leave opportunities to enter markets for those who study the financial news.
Check WSJ search_center for national and international CPI information.
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