This text provides a thorough explanation of the non-financial economic indicators that are closely watched by the financial markets. It details how the indicators are compiled and what the statistical significance is for the economy, as well as presenting insights into interpreting the data.

Now revised and expanded, this widely-used desk reference provides quick and easy access to current and reliable data on the major statistical measures of the U.S. economy. Equally useful for students, general readers, economists, analysts, journalists, and investors, the guide provides concise, jargon-free explanations of the meaning, use, and availability of more than 70 macroeconomic indicators, including websites, recent trends, and current data.

Everything you need to easily get a handle on economic indicators In today's volatile, often troubling economic landscape, there are myriad statistics and reports that paint an economic picture that can sometimes resemble a work by Jackson Pollock. These complex and often-conflicting reports could vex even the savviest investor. Economic Indicators For Dummies explains how to interpret and use key global economic indicators to make solid investments, aid in business planning, and help develop informed decisions. In plain English, it breaks down the complex language and statistics to help you make sense of this critical information. You'll discover how to interpret economic data within the context of other sometimes-conflicting reports and statistics, and use the information to make profitable decisions. You'll understand the meaning of such data as employment indices and housing and construction stats and how they affect stocks, bonds, commodities and international markets . . . and how you can use these statistics to make investment decisions as well as plan strategic goals for business growth. Economic Indicators For Dummies breaks down dozens of statistics and patterns to give you a better understanding of how various sources of data and information can be used. Breaks down jargon and statistical concepts Covers how to use publicly available economic indicators to better position your portfolio, improve returns, and make sensible, long-range business plans Discusses the reliability and timeliness of the collected data, while helping investors prioritize the flow of economic information to avoid information overload Whether you're an investor, economics student, or business professional involved in making key strategic decisions for your company, Economic Indicators For Dummies has you covered.

Every day, stocks, bonds, and currencies bounce wildly in response to new economic indicators. Money managers obsess over those statistics, because they provide crucial clues about the future of the economy and the financial markets. Now "you "can use these indicators to make smarter investment decisions, just like the professionals do.You don't need an economics degree, or a CPA... just this easy-to-use book. Former "TIME "Magazine senior economics reporter Bernard Baumohl has done the impossible: he's made economic indicators "fascinating." Using real-world examples and stories, Baumohl illuminates every U.S. and foreign indicator that matters.Where to find them.What they look like. What the insiders know about their track records. And "exactly "how to interpret them. Whether you're an investor, broker, portfolio manager, researcher, journalist, or student, you'll find this book indispensable.Nobody can predict the future with certainty. But "The Secrets of Economic Indicators "will get you as close as humanly possible. What the numbers "really "mean... ...to stocks, bonds, rates, currencies, and you Ahead of the curve: spotting turning points Calling recessions and recoveries in time to profit from them Leading indicators: where's the economy "really "heading Decoding initial unemployment claims, housing starts, the yield curve, and other predictors Beyond the borders Why foreign indicators are increasingly important-and how to use them Making sense of indicators in conflict What to do when the numbers disagree Finding the data Free web resources for the latest economic dataInvestments ""This is the most up-to-date guide to economic indicators and their importance to financial markets in print. For anyone trying to follow the economic data, this should be next to your "computer so that you can understand and find the data on the Internet." David Wyss, Chief Economist, Standard and Poor's ""I find Baumohl's writing fascinating. Just about anyone who's serious about understanding which way the economy is headed will want to read this book. It could be a classic."" Harry Domash, Columnist for MSN Money and Publisher, Winning Investing Newsletter ""Every business person or investor should keep a copy of Baumohl's book close-at-hand. It is great, at long last, to have someone who has eliminated what may have been so perplexing to so many and to have done so with such remarkable clarity."" Hugh Johnson, Chief Investment Officer, First Albany ""Bernie Baumohl has written a "must read" educational and reference book that every individual investor will find indispensable for watching, monitoring, and interpreting the markets."" Allen Sinai, President and Chief Global Economist, Decision Economics, Inc. ""Baumohl has a gift for taking a complicated subject and allowing it to read like a fast-moving novel. I recommend this book if you care about your future finances."" Morris E. Lasky, CEO, Lodging Unlimited, Inc.-manager and consultant for $6 billion in hotel assets; Chairman, Lodging Conference; Chairman, International Hotel Conference ""I think this is an excellent book. It's well written, accessible to a variety of readers, deals with an interesting and important subject, and covers the topic well. It deserves to get a lot of notice and use."" D. Quinn Mills, Alfred J. Weatherhead Jr., Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School "The fascinating, plain-English guide to economic indicators: what they mean, and how to use them." "Unemployment. Inflation. Consumer confidence. Retail sales.".. Every morning brings new economic statistics. Which economic indicators really matter? What do they mean for stocks, bonds, interest rates, currencies..."your portfolio?" How can you use them to make faster, smarter investment decisions? Simple, clear, non-technical, friendly, "usable."..the "only "book of its kind! By former renowned "TIME "Magazine economics journalist Bernard Baumohl. (c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

How did Americans come to quantify their society’s progress and well-being in units of money? In today’s GDP-run world, prices are the standard measure of not only our goods and commodities but our environment, our communities, our nation, even our self-worth. The Pricing of Progress traces the long history of how and why we moderns adopted the monetizing values and valuations of capitalism as an indicator of human prosperity while losing sight of earlier social and moral metrics that did not put a price on everyday life. Eli Cook roots the rise of economic indicators in the emergence of modern capitalism and the contested history of English enclosure, Caribbean slavery, American industrialization, economic thought, and corporate power. He explores how the maximization of market production became the chief objective of American economic and social policy. We see how distinctly capitalist quantification techniques used to manage or invest in railroad corporations, textile factories, real estate holdings, or cotton plantations escaped the confines of the business world and seeped into every nook and cranny of society. As economic elites quantified the nation as a for-profit, capitalized investment, the progress of its inhabitants, free or enslaved, came to be valued according to their moneymaking abilities. Today as in the nineteenth century, political struggles rage over who gets to determine the statistical yardsticks used to gauge the “health” of our economy and nation. The Pricing of Progress helps us grasp the limits and dangers of entrusting economic indicators to measure social welfare and moral goals.