There’s existing home sales, consumer prices, unemployment, retail sales… the list keeps going. Staying atop of the latest economic trends is a full-time job for many people. You could watch the nightly news or check Wall Street Journal or CNN for the day’s reports of announcements and analysis. But what if there a way to proactively be ahead of the curve?
Econoday allows you to plan ahead and find out what market indicators are being released. The information provider’s website includes an economic calendar that lists when the government and other organizations will announce the latest numbers. Furthermore, they also provide explanations as to why these numbers matter. Although they don’t also post the releases themselves, they do list the responsible agencies from which you can locate them on your own.
This resource is also useful if you’re looking historically at the market reactions. If you saw that the S&P 500 went down by a large margin, it may have been due to one of these indicators.
As the G20 Summit wrapped up today in London, some of you may wonder, “What makes these twenty countries so special?” or perhaps, “Which countries are part of this ‘elite’ group?”
In honor of the historic meeting, Global Market Information Database, one of the Library’s excellent resources from Euromonitor, has put together a featured story on the matter. Once you log into GMID, select Countries in the navigation bar at the top and then on G20: In Focus. You’ll find out interesting facts about the G20’s contribution to the global economy as well as be able to dive further into researching particular countries. GMID may be a business resource, but it has great insights into countries and their populations.
And for those of you that didn’t know (I didn’t), the G20 is comprised of the following countries: USA, Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, South Africa and the rest of the EU
President Obama scheduled a town hall meeting with all of us Thursday morning, March 26th, at 10:30 a.m. People were directed to the White House web site to review questions.
If you missed it, you can read the transcript or view the video:
The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!
The 2009 Economic Report of the President has been submitted to Congress and may be read in its entirety online.
This annual report, written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, overviews the nation’s economic progress and provides extensive data appendices. Reports back to 1995 are available online at the GPO Access link given above. Older reports are available in print in the Library’s Federal Documents collection or online (back to 1947) at the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER).
The Economic Report of the President includes:
- Current and foreseeable trends and annual numerical goals concerning topics such as employment, production, real income, and Federal budget outlays;
- Employment objectives for significant groups of the labor force;
- Annual numeric goals;
- A program for carrying out objectives.
- The annual report of the Council of Economic Advisers, describing its activities during the previous calendar year.
The table of contents shows that the text has information that affects us all:
Chapter 1: The year in Review and the Years Ahead
Chapter 2: Housing and Financial Markets
Chapter 3: Energy and the Environment
Chapter 4: The Benefits of Open Trade and Investment Policies
Chapter 5: Tax Policy
Chapter 6: The Long-Run Challenges of Entitlement Spending
Chapter 7: Balancing Private and Public Roles in Health Care
Chapter 8: Education and Labor
Chapter 9: Economic Regulation
The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!
“This is a stressful time for workers.” So begins the 2008 State of Working Wisconsin, a report produced biennially by COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank interested in improving economic performance and living standards in Wisconsin and the United States.
Key findings of the report include:
- Wisconsin’s economic growth is soft, jobs are falling, and manufacturing is slipping
- Wisconsin’s median wage ($15.17 per hour in 2007) is down compared to 2006-2007
- Wisconsin’s median family income is well below the 2000 benchmark (Wisconsin’s median family income has fallen at an annual rate of -1.5 percent per year, while the national family income has fallen at half that speed.)
- Wisconsin workers’ benefits are on the decline and low-wage workers are most vulnerable
- Wisconsin’s extreme inequality continues: racial disparity exists in the state (The poverty gap between whites and blacks in Milwaukee was the highest disparity posted by any of the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas.)
See the full report online for more information, including many statistics.
