By Chris Stone
Contact Chris
There is one economic- and consumer-research organization that traders rely on to gauge the health of the U.S. economy: the
Conference Board (CB), which is, of course, responsible for widely followed benchmarks such as the Index of
Leading Indicators (now released for nine countries) and the
Consumer Confidence Index, among others.
This tutorial deals with the methodology behind the various Conference Board data sets, as well as their historical results and market relevance. As we devote a chapter to explaining the purpose and construction of each indicator - including charts to illustrate past performance relative to the economy - we give insight into how to interpret these indicators for a trading advantage.