Business Cyle Indicators:
Sources of Data, Reports and Analysis

Sources of Data
Professional Analysis of Business Cycle Indicators and Forecasting Services
News Summary and Analysis of Recent Indicators
Official Sources of Reports and Data

Sources of Data

Economic Statistics Briefing Room (ESBR) - White House
This part of the White House web site offers summary data and graphs of macroeconomic series. While the series are relatively short, it is convenient to have summary information in one place with links to the originator. Data is organized in the following categories: output; income; employment, unemployment, and earnings; production and business activity; prices; money, credit, and securities markets; transportation; and international statistics. Excellent resource for latest data on the business cycle.

The Dismal Scientist
An excellent source of information, data and analysis of the most important business cycle indicators. Java applet allow to plot data for each indicators over different time samples.

The Mortgage Mart
An good basic glossary of the most important business cycle indicators with some updated charts.

Economic Chart Dispenser (ECD)
Great resource for charting U.S. macro data. You can use a simple form to choose hundreds of macro series, choose the sample period, chart the series and transform the charts in several useful formats (such as levels and rates of change): Raw series, Period-to-period percentage change of the series at AR (Annualized Rate), Period-to-period actual change at AR, Percentage change from same period last year, Actual change from same period last year, PRESSURE: (normal/smoothed percentage changes), PRESSURE: positive actual changes (suggested for series with negative data), PRESSURE: negative actual changes (suggested for interest & unemployment rates). Once you create a chart, you can save it in a GIF format and download it.

Economic and Treasury Calendar
A calendar of all forthcoming business cycle indicators. A good source to keep track of which indicators are going to be published during the current month.

Economic Time Series Page
Many more macro series from the same source as the Economic Chart Dispenser (ECD). However, you cannot chart them in the same graphical format as the ECD nor transform the data in various (level and rate of change) formats. Still, you can create simpler charts, look at the data and download them.

FRED Database of Macroeconomic Data
At FRED, you find thousands of macro series from the database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. One of the largest collections of data on the U.S. economy.

Business Cycle Indicators from Media Logic
Media Logic presents U.S. aggregate data (all 256 series from the BEA's Survey of Current Business). The sample period stops in 1995 so that recent data are not available.  The series are freely available in both graphical and numerical form. The graphical form is from their program, and the numerical form is in .wks files. Good source of data on the US macroeconomy. The graphs of macroeconomic variables show the peaks and throughs of U.S. business cycle: this is useful to observe the business cycle properties of various macroeconomic variables.
 

Professional Analysis of Business Cycle Indicators and Forecasting Services
 

The Dismal Scientist
An excellent source of information, data and analysis of the most important business cycle indicators. Java applet allow to plot data for each indicators over different time samples.

Morgan Stanley Global Economic Forum
This service (led by Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley and a leading Wall Street economist) offers a daily view on macroeconomic affairs and events around the world. This is the best daily source of information and commentary on current macroeconomic conditions in US, Europe, Japan, Canada and selected deveoping countries. On each business day, a number of issues are discussed. Back issues are available as well. An excellent source of analysis and information on macroeconomic conditions and policies in industrial and emerging markets.

Dr. Ed Yardeni's Economics Network
Ed Yardeni is the chief economist of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell/C.J. Lawrence. You will find a numerous charts of U.S. and international macro data and data from the latest releases of statistical material. There are also weekly economic analyses, briefings and topical analyses of macroeconomic trends. The file are in the pdf format. So to read most of the material here, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader (that is easy to install and use with all WEB browsers). This is an excellent site for those interested in both macroeconomic data and the analysis of it. 

The Economics Section of the Mining Co. Guide to the Web
An excellent resource for Economics information. Topics include: In The Spotlight  (a weekly discussion of a topic);        Mining for Links (Web resource on particular subjects);  This week's Net Links  (new links to  interesting or informative economics  related sites on the internet);  Economics in On-Line Magazines  ( Bi-Weekly updated annotated links to
economics articles from The Atlantic, New Republic, Slate, and many others);  Bookstore (a small, but  growing, list of recommended books);  Featured Net Links; Econ Community; Data; Government;  News; Organizations; Community;    Bulletin Board.
                                              
First Union
First Union provides its users with free, valuable economic information. The following
reports are made available: Economic Indicator Analysis, Weekly Economic Commentary, Regional Economic Review, Quarterly Economic Outlook, Data Banks 

"Economic Trends" by the Research Department at Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Excellent WEB resource. This is a monthly source for analysis and charts of US business cycle conditions.
Latest economic statistics are charted and the current state of the economy is discussed in detail. Topics analyzed include:
The Economy in Perspective, Monetary Policy, Inflation and Prices, Economic Activity, Labor Markets, Banking
Conditions, International Trade, Global Savings and Investment.

Bank of America's Economics and Financial Reports
Bank of America carries out economic and technical research in a number of countries across the globe.  Every day their analysts study the latest economic and financial news, and publish a variety of reports. Topics include: the U.S. Economy;
Weekly U.S. Economic Briefing;  Monthly survey of Wall Street economists from Economics Illustrated; Economic Indicators (monthly);  Economic & Business Outlooks;  Special Reports;  The Global Economy;  Weekly International Economic Briefing;  World Information Services (Country Outlooks, Country Data Forecasts, and Country Risk Monitor);   Economic & Business Outlooks; Special Reports;  Foreign Exchange Markets;   Technical Analyses (monthly).
 

News Summary and Analysis of Recent Indicators

USA Today
This page provides a brief updated news summaries of  recent reports on business cycle indicators.

Wall Street Journal - Economic Indicators Archive
This page is part of the WSJ Interactive Edition (this is a paid service). It  provides direct links to official government reports on most business cycle indicators.

CNNfn - Economy page
This is the economy page of the CNNfn website. The  page provides brief updated news summaries of  recent reports on business cycle indicators and articles on the economy.
 

Official Sources of Reports and Data

Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Commerce Department

Bureau of Labor Statistics at the Labor Department

Bureau of Census