Utilizing Economic Indicators to Predict and Analyze Trends ON DEMAND

Overview

Economic indicators are those often-voluminous statistics released by government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private companies. They provide measurements for evaluating the health of our economy, including the latest business cycles, consumer spending, inflation, housing, and more. Various economic indicators are released quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily. Michael Walker provides an introductory overview of the world’s most prevalent economic indicators, including those related to unemployment, consumer sentiment and confidence, inflation, productivity, housing, manufacturing, and international trade. This course reviews the impact that changes in these indicators have on the financial markets and monetary policy.

Highlights

Economic Indicators and Business Cycles. Financial Markets and Interest Rates. GDP and Monthly Indicators. Federal Reserve and Monetary Indicators. Unemployment and Consumer Indicators. Inflation and Productivity Indicators. Industrial and Commercial Indicators. International Trade Indicators.

Prerequisites

None.

Designed For

CPAs, auditors, consultants, and financial and managerial professionals.

Objectives

Identify the four phases of the business cycle. Indicate how various economic conditions impact the business cycle. Identify the types of economic indicators that exist and recognize the unique characteristics of each type. Recognize tools that are currently available to monitor economic indicators. Identify the unique characteristics of financial markets. Recognize the types of financial instruments traded in various financial markets. Calculate ‘simple’ and ‘compound’ interest. Identify how a bond’s stated interest rate and its yield-to-maturity impacts the price at which it is traded. Recognize how interests can vary based on the risk structure of interest rates. Identify how a yield curve illustrates the term structure of interest rates.

Preparation

None.

Notice

None.