The Secrets of Economic Indicators: Hidden Clues to Future Economic Trends and Investment Opportunities »

Bernard Baumohl is managing director of The Economic Outlook Group and oversees its forecasts of economic trends and risks. He also conducts seminars on how to find and utilize economic indicators so that corporate leaders and investors can stay ahead of the business curve. Baumohl was an award-winning TIME Magazine economics reporter for two decades and covered the domestic and international economy from TIME’s New York and Washington bureaus. As an economist for European American Bank, he monitored and developed forecasts of U.S. economic activity. He also served as an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations. A frequent guest on television and radio, he has lectured on economics at New York University, Duke University, and the New York Institute of Finance. A recipient of the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism, Baumohl has a master’s degree in international affairs and economics from Columbia University.

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 data Investments

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.

Library Journal

Baumohl, a former economics reporter for Time magazine, has written a tremendously useful source on economic indicators. Using examples from real life, he starts out by explaining in detail the importance of these indicators to the investing community and defining the terms used when discussing measures of economic performance. The most valuable section of the book provides detailed descriptions of over 40 economic indicators, among them employment, consumer spending, national output and inventories, housing and construction, foreign trade, and productivity and wages. Baumohl considers a variety of factors when describing each indicator, such as what exactly it measures, how it is computed, where to find the relevant report on the web, the day and time this report is released, the source of the information, and how often the information is revised. He also discusses the market impact of these indicators on bonds, stocks, and currency. The book ends with profiles of international indicators and a listing of where to locate them on the web. Bottom Line Although this book is marketed as a tool for investors and is not organized like a typical reference book, it belongs in the reference collection because it explains so clearly what the various economic indicators are and how to locate data about them. Recommended for all libraries.-Stacey Marien, American Univ. Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Ch. 1	The lock-up	1
Ch. 2	A beginner's guide : understanding the lingo	17
Ch. 3	The most influential U.S. economic indicators	25
Ch. 4	International economic indicators : why are they so important?	295
Ch. 5	Best Web sites for U.S. economic indicators	339
Ch. 6	Best Web sites for international economic indictors	347