Economic calendar

A schedule of the events whose timing is known in advance: statistical releases from national agencies, interest rate decisions and minutes from central banks, auctions, and set-piece speeches. Each row carries the country, the release moment stated in a named time zone, the previous figure, a consensus estimate and, once published, the actual reading.

The rows are compiled by data vendors from the publication schedules of the agencies and central banks themselves, so the timing is authoritative while the consensus beside it is not: consensus is a survey of forecasters, assembled by whoever runs the survey, and two calendars can print different consensus figures for the same release. The importance markers vendors attach are editorial and differ between them.

A calendar describes when attention concentrates, and nothing beyond that. Around a scheduled release, quoted spreads in the affected instruments commonly widen and depth thins for a period measured in seconds either side, because market makers withdraw quotes ahead of a number they cannot see. Two details are missed most often: a revision to a previously published figure sits in the same release and can move a market more than the headline, and a release that arrives in line with consensus can still move prices if the accompanying detail differs from what was expected.