Economic indicators
Economic indicators
• An economic indicator is a
macroeconomic measurement used
by analysts to understand current
and future economic activity and
opportunity.
• Economic indicators also help to
judge the overall health of an
economy.
• The most widely-used economic
indicators come from data released
by the government and non-profit
organizations.
5 SIGNS OF A HEALTHY ECONOMY
• rising employment numbers (more
people are getting jobs)
• investors seek to buy new
businesses
• consumers open their wallets to
spend more
• banks are more ready to approve
loans to individuals and businesses
• confidence returns to the stock
market
Types of economic indicators

predict the future movements of an

economy (e.g. share prices)
where the economy WILL BE

what is happening NOW (real-time)

(e.g. GDP, employment levels) 
where the economy IS

show information after the event has

happened (e.g. gross national product
[GNP], consumer price index,
unemployment rates, interest rates...
where the economy HAS BEEN
Leading indicators
• Economic leading indicators can
help to predict and forecast future
events and trends in business,
markets, and the economy
• example:
• consumer confidence index (CCI):
• the degree of optimism on the
state of an economy that
consumers are expressing through
their activities of savings and
spending
Coincident indicators
• economic coincident simultaneously =
at the same time
indicators change (more or less)
simultaneously with general economic
conditions and therefore reflect the
current status of the economy
• examples: employment, real
earnings...
 to clarify= to explain

Lagging indicators
pattern= repeated model
to lag (behind)= not to keep
up, to stay behind
• Lagging indicators can only
to occur= to
be known after the event, happen
but that doesn’t make them
useless. They can clarify and
confirm a pattern that is
occurring over time. 

• examples: gross domestic

product (GDP),
unemployment rate,
Consumer Price Index (CPI)...
Remember!