Market guides
How a scheduled event works.
The recurring items on the calendar, rate decisions, inflation and labour releases, inventories and earnings seasons, described as processes rather than as forecasts.
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24 guides, each written to be read on its own
Events
Every guide in this group
Reference guides to the recurring scheduled events that reprice markets: central bank decisions, inflation and labour releases, inventory reports and earnings seasons. Evergreen and undated, describing how each release is produced and published.
How the economic calendar works
What sits on the calendar, who publishes each item, and how its three number columns are built.
- Level
- Foundation
- Covers
- All markets
The FOMC and the Federal Reserve rate decision
Who sits on the FOMC, what a rate decision decides, and the four documents a meeting produces.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 3 classes
US CPI, the consumer price index
What the CPI basket contains, how it is collected and weighted, and why headline and core readings differ.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 3 classes
US non-farm payrolls and the employment report
The two surveys behind one report, and why the payroll count and the unemployment rate can disagree.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
US GDP and the quarterly national accounts
What the national accounts measure, why the headline is annualised, and how the three estimates differ.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
US ISM and PMI business surveys
How a diffusion index is built, why its neutral level is the only reference point, and where it misleads.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
US retail sales and the control group
What the survey covers, why the headline is nominal, and the exclusions that produce the control group.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 3 classes
The ECB rate decision and the Governing Council
How the Governing Council votes, why the euro area has three policy rates, and what a meeting produces.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
Euro area inflation and the harmonised index
Why the euro area needs a harmonised index, what harmonisation standardises, and how the estimates differ.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
Euro area PMI and the flash release sequence
How the survey family is structured, the order the flash readings arrive in, and the limits of a survey.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
The Bank of England decision and the MPC vote
How the MPC is composed, why the named vote split is the distinguishing feature, and what the report adds.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
UK inflation and labour market data
The difference between CPI, CPIH and the retail prices index, and how the labour release is assembled.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
The Bank of Japan decision and its unscheduled release time
How the Policy Board votes, the instruments beyond a single rate, and why the release time is unscheduled.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
The People's Bank of China and China activity data
How the People's Bank of China signals policy, how the daily fixing works, and what the monthly data covers.
- Level
- Advanced
- Covers
- 3 classes
The Central Bank of the UAE and the dirham peg
How the dirham peg is maintained, and why a fixed rate moves rate setting to the anchor economy.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Forex
The Saudi Central Bank and the riyal
The two policy rates the Saudi Central Bank operates, and why they move on the anchor economy's calendar.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
The RBA and RBNZ decisions
How the two antipodean central banks are structured, and the rate track that only one of them publishes.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
The Bank of Canada and Swiss National Bank decisions
Two smaller central banks, one a consensus committee, the other a board with an interventionist history.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
OPEC+ meetings and the production quota
Who is in the group, how it decides, and the difference between a headline quota and actual production.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 2 classes
EIA crude oil inventories and the weekly petroleum report
What the weekly petroleum report contains, why Cushing matters, and the limits of one weekly reading.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- Commodities and metals
Earnings season and the reporting calendar
Why results cluster into seasons, how a release differs from a filing, and what a surprise measures.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Covers
- 3 classes
Central bank symposia and forward guidance
The three forms guidance takes, why a promise is an instrument, and the blackout conventions around it.
- Level
- Advanced
- Covers
- 2 classes
Sovereign credit rating reviews
What a sovereign rating is and is not, and why outlook and watch carry information the grade does not.
- Level
- Advanced
- Covers
- 2 classes
Index rebalancing and review dates
How committees decide constituents and weights, and why the close on a review date carries unusual volume.
- Level
- Advanced
- Covers
- 3 classes
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