🎓 EDU 6 of 20: What Market Indicators do I Need to Follow?
Hi traders, it's time for a new part of our educational series. This series aims to equip new traders with all the necessary tools to trade the forex market. Most of these tools are also used by large market participants in their daily analysis, and for making trading decisions.
Getting started with trading isn't easy, mostly because the internet lacks quality when it comes to trading education. Yes, there are some great posts out there, but how are you supposed to know where to find them, and how to distinguish bad trading practices from good ones? This is why I created this educational series, to equip you with the main tools used by institutional investors and banks in trading.
Alright, let's move on with the sixth part: What Market Indicators do I Need to Follow?
Capital chases yield. Investors will move their capital to markets that offer better yields, be it in the USA, Europe, or Asia. Central banks play a huge role in determining yields when they hike domestic interest rates to fight inflationary pressures (making the domestic currency relatively more attractive), lower yields to support economic activity (making the domestic currency relatively less attractive), or keeping rates unchanged. To recap how this works, visit my previous post (EDU 5 of 20).
Central banks follow market indicators to determine what is the correct monetary policy for current economic conditions. Just like traders, central banks follow CPIs, PPIs, industrial output, PMIs, and labor market numbers, to name a few. And if central banks follow them, you should too.
1. CPIs - Since most central banks have a specific inflation target they want to reach, Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) are one of the most followed market indicators. CPIs measure the change in the prices of goods and services at the retail level over a specific period of time (usually one year), and compares that change to a base period (in the US, the base period is 1982-1984, where the value of the CPI is set to 100.) However, markets are mostly focused on the annual rate of change in the CPI.
2. PPIs - While the CPI measures the change in prices at the retail level, PPIs do the same at the manufacturing level. For example, the PPI would catch changes in the prices of manufacturing input, such as raw materials or labor. Since most of the price changes are spilled over to the retail level, traders often follow PPIs to get early clues on where the CPI could be heading.
3. PMIs - The Purchasing Managers Index is a major leading indicator that catches trends in the overall economic activity. It's based on a survey of purchasing managers in 19 industries, who are asked to assess the current conditions on five major survey areas: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries, and employment. Currencies often react with great volatility to PMI releases, making it an important market report to follow.
4. Labor Market Conditions - When talking about labor market conditions, we are actually referring to all the indicators which cover the labor market, including unemployment rates, unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, average hourly wages, employment change, etc. Many central banks closely follow labor market numbers, as their mandate can also be to target full employment (in addition to an inflation target.) Labor market numbers can also provide some leading insights into the future economy, as the creation of many new jobs usually leads to higher economic output and GDP growth.
Besides the mentioned reports, there are many more reports that can have a significant impact on the forex market. Some of them include retail sales and core retail sales, consumer confidence indices, GDP growth rates, etc. Check them out if you want to get a deeper understanding of the major market reports.
What's important to mention is that markets are focused on the actual number vs the forecasted number. For example, if non-farm payrolls come in at 500k but expectations were set at 350k, this will usually lead to a strong positive reaction in the US dollar. Also, the reaction is stronger is the surprise comes in the direction of the central bank policy (for the example above, if the Fed is hawkish and the NFP comes in stronger, the reaction in the US dollar will be stronger than in the case of a dovish Fed and strong NFP.)
If you find my educational series useful, please consider hitting the "LIKE" button to share the word. Thanks!
Getting started with trading isn't easy, mostly because the internet lacks quality when it comes to trading education. Yes, there are some great posts out there, but how are you supposed to know where to find them, and how to distinguish bad trading practices from good ones? This is why I created this educational series, to equip you with the main tools used by institutional investors and banks in trading.
Alright, let's move on with the sixth part: What Market Indicators do I Need to Follow?
Capital chases yield. Investors will move their capital to markets that offer better yields, be it in the USA, Europe, or Asia. Central banks play a huge role in determining yields when they hike domestic interest rates to fight inflationary pressures (making the domestic currency relatively more attractive), lower yields to support economic activity (making the domestic currency relatively less attractive), or keeping rates unchanged. To recap how this works, visit my previous post (EDU 5 of 20).
Central banks follow market indicators to determine what is the correct monetary policy for current economic conditions. Just like traders, central banks follow CPIs, PPIs, industrial output, PMIs, and labor market numbers, to name a few. And if central banks follow them, you should too.
1. CPIs - Since most central banks have a specific inflation target they want to reach, Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) are one of the most followed market indicators. CPIs measure the change in the prices of goods and services at the retail level over a specific period of time (usually one year), and compares that change to a base period (in the US, the base period is 1982-1984, where the value of the CPI is set to 100.) However, markets are mostly focused on the annual rate of change in the CPI.
2. PPIs - While the CPI measures the change in prices at the retail level, PPIs do the same at the manufacturing level. For example, the PPI would catch changes in the prices of manufacturing input, such as raw materials or labor. Since most of the price changes are spilled over to the retail level, traders often follow PPIs to get early clues on where the CPI could be heading.
3. PMIs - The Purchasing Managers Index is a major leading indicator that catches trends in the overall economic activity. It's based on a survey of purchasing managers in 19 industries, who are asked to assess the current conditions on five major survey areas: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries, and employment. Currencies often react with great volatility to PMI releases, making it an important market report to follow.
4. Labor Market Conditions - When talking about labor market conditions, we are actually referring to all the indicators which cover the labor market, including unemployment rates, unemployment claims, non-farm payrolls, average hourly wages, employment change, etc. Many central banks closely follow labor market numbers, as their mandate can also be to target full employment (in addition to an inflation target.) Labor market numbers can also provide some leading insights into the future economy, as the creation of many new jobs usually leads to higher economic output and GDP growth.
Besides the mentioned reports, there are many more reports that can have a significant impact on the forex market. Some of them include retail sales and core retail sales, consumer confidence indices, GDP growth rates, etc. Check them out if you want to get a deeper understanding of the major market reports.
What's important to mention is that markets are focused on the actual number vs the forecasted number. For example, if non-farm payrolls come in at 500k but expectations were set at 350k, this will usually lead to a strong positive reaction in the US dollar. Also, the reaction is stronger is the surprise comes in the direction of the central bank policy (for the example above, if the Fed is hawkish and the NFP comes in stronger, the reaction in the US dollar will be stronger than in the case of a dovish Fed and strong NFP.)
If you find my educational series useful, please consider hitting the "LIKE" button to share the word. Thanks!
