Economic Indicators And Interest Rate Forecasting

Economic indicators are used by the Federal Reserve, bond traders on Wall Street, and institutional investors to forecast the direction of interest rates. The Federal Government releases most of these indicators while others are released by private research firms and trade associations. 

The residential mortgage market, U.S. Treasury securities, and municipal and corporate bonds are all part of the long term debt market aka the Capital Market,  which are influenced by monthly changes and longer-term trend changes in the various economic indicators.  

Key economic indicators that are studied to forecast interest rates are listed below.  

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• Producer Price Index (PPI)
• Employment Cost Index (ECI)
• Unemployment & Employment-Payroll Jobs
• Housing Starts
• National Association of Purchasing Managers
• Retail Sales
• Durable Goods Orders
• Personal Income
• Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization
• Construction Spending
• New & Existing Home Sales
• Consumer Credit
• Household Income and Graph
• Index of Leading Economic Indicators

Related Links

• Daily news from the Department Of Commerce
• Overview of the US Economy
• Census Data
• Source Links and Other Data