"New news" moves markets. Accordingly, the economic indicators that heralds "new news" are of the
most value to traders and investors.
timeliness of release
GDP statistics are typically released by the government a month or more after the period in question, by
which point dozens of other indicators have been released.
Because GDP statistics are released well after other economic indicators
Nonfarm payrolls, CPI and PMI are published monthly. GDP is only published on a quarterly basis.
GDP
Which economic indicator is most directly linked to unemployment?
nonfarm payrolls
What is the main reason that investment banks create estimates of economic indicators?
to know when specific economic data points are a positive or negative surprise
Which of the following is the biggest pitfall of economic indicators?
1. they do not take into account seasonality
2, they are not sufficiently timely to make investment decisions