Economic Indicator Library

The civilian unemployment rate is the percentage of the labor force that is jobless and actively searching for work. Published monthly by the BLS as part of the Employment Situation report.

Total nonfarm employment measured by the Current Employment Statistics survey. The most-watched monthly jobs number.

4-week moving average of new unemployment insurance claims. Smooths out weekly noise from the raw ICSA series.

Number of quits during the month as a percent of total employment. Reflects worker confidence in finding new jobs.

CPI for all urban consumers, all items, seasonally adjusted. The most cited headline inflation measure in the United States.

CPI excluding volatile food and energy prices. Preferred by economists and the Fed for tracking underlying inflation trends.

Personal Consumption Expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge because of its broader coverage and dynamic weights.

PCE excluding food and energy — the specific series the FOMC targets at 2% year-over-year.

Producer prices measure input-side inflation before it reaches consumers. Leads CPI by 1–3 months in most cycles.

Spread between the 10-year Treasury constant maturity yield and the 2-year Treasury yield. The most-watched yield-curve inversion signal.

Spread between the 10-year Treasury yield and the 3-month T-bill. The New York Fed’s preferred recession signal.

The effective federal funds rate — the volume-weighted median rate at which depository institutions lend reserves to each other overnight.

Constant maturity yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note. Benchmark long-term risk-free rate.

The VIX measures implied 30-day S&P 500 volatility from options prices. Widely known as the "fear index."

Option-adjusted spread of ICE BofA US High Yield index vs. spot Treasury curve. Measures credit-risk premium in junk bonds.

Weekly composite of 105 measures of financial activity across money, debt, and equity markets plus the traditional and shadow banking systems.

The broad trade-weighted dollar index against a basket of 26 currencies. Superseded the narrow DXY as the Fed’s preferred measure.

Yield on 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. Represents the real (after-inflation) risk-free rate.

Weekly national average of 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage rates published by Freddie Mac.

New privately-owned housing units started, seasonally adjusted annual rate. A leading indicator of housing-market health.

Monthly survey-based index of consumer confidence and expectations. Widely used in forecasting consumer spending.

Monthly advance estimate of retail sales, seasonally adjusted. Direct measure of consumer spending strength.

Measures the real output of manufacturing, mining, and electric/gas utility industries.

Industrial production excluding mining and utilities. The pure manufacturing-output subindex of INDPRO.

Total nonfarm employees in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted.

M2 monetary aggregate — currency, demand deposits, savings, and small time deposits. Broad measure of money in the economy.

Inflation-adjusted (real) GDP — the broadest measure of U.S. economic output. Published quarterly with two revisions.