Is there a Book that explains the Forex News Calendar?

[gobble]

Hello,

I have traded with and without a news calendar open many times now. And I have been left wondering what all the acronyms mean (PMI, YoY, MoM, etc.). Of course I have been able to research them on my own and decipher what they mean but what I would really like is a book that details the forex economic news calendar and explain how each piece of data effects the markets.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I’m looking for a comprehensive read.

Thanks!

[ChelseaR]

Hey, I totally get where you’re coming from - the acrynoyms can be really overwhelming in the beginning. I would suggest reading “Trading Economics: A Guide to Economic Indicators and Their Impact on the Market” by Trevor Williams and Victoria Turton. It talks about the indicators you mentioned and how they move in the market.

You can also check out “Day Trading and Swing Trading the Currency Market” by Kathy Lien. It’s not specifically about the economic indicators but it does talk about the data points and their affect on the currencies.

Let me know how it goes!

[Sufshiken]

Hi @gobble

Good suggestions by @ChelseaR . But, you may also check investing.com Economic Calendar and may check the upcoming events on a daily or weekly basis as shown in the screenshot and link attached.

https://www.investing.com/economic-calendar/

Let’s say today Two US events are to be released at 18.30. So you can click any event and get brief info about the event as well as what its Actual value will impact if it is announced below or above the forecasted value. The screenshot and link are mentioned below.

https://www.investing.com/economic-calendar/core-retail-sales-63

I hope it will help you understand the brief info on the economic indicators as well as how they impact the markets.

Sufshiken

[gobble]

Thank you for reading material Chelsea it’s kind of you.

[gobble]

Hey Sufshiken, great idea - I was cruising write ups like these earlier on in my journey. They are definitely helpful.

It seems you may be on to something new for me though as they specifically mention how to interpret the news with the “expected reading”. Care to elaborate more on your experience?

[ontario]

I think you need to know only 5-6 indicators or releases which impact markets to the extent that it is noticeable and present market opportunities due to increased volatility. Such reports are NFP, inflation reports, PMI data, GDP, initial unemployment claims (US data), JOLTS open vacancies data (US Data). The rest are central bank speeches.

[gobble]

Good catch, I appreciate the insight.

[Franca_Bridge]

@gobble

I have been left wondering what all the acronyms mean (PMI, YoY, MoM, etc.

PMI: Purchasing Managers’ Index (it monitors monthly economic activity changes in the manufacturing sector of the economy).

YoY: abbreviation for “year-on-year” or “year-over-year” (in other words “annual change”).

MoM: abbreviation for “month-on-month” or “month-over-month” (“monthly change”).

@gobble

Is there a Book that explains the Forex News Calendar?

There are loads, and I strongly recommend avoiding all of them, because ploughing through any of them would be a dreadfully bad use of your time.

A very concise summary like this one is all you need, on an ongoing basis -

Forex Economic Calendar

There are two major points, here, worthy of your attention:

1. “Fundamentals” are one of the areas where independents (retail traders) can never possibly compete with the institutionals (banks, etc.) who are employing teams of economists and analysts. Use your time honing your skills in the areas where you can compete with them (leverage, agility, some price-action TA, etc.)

2. Although it’s absolutely essential, as an independent, to be aware of and to avoid scheduled news which may affect your currency trades, appreciate that fundamentals are for the most part already pretty well reflected in technicals by the time charts reach us.

[BeSomebodyFX]

You probably already know all the technical definitions for each type of economic number so no need to get into those, instead…

What you should look into right now is how it practically applies to your trading.

For that, start by reading the answer on this thread below:

@BeSomebodyFX

If it matters for the central bank, it matters for markets.

Meaning that the ONLY data that REALLY matters is the one that “moves the needle” for the central bank in question.

I don’t have any specific book to recommend you that dives specifically into each economic data.

Only books that talk about fundamentals in different aspects.

But anyway, you don’t really need to pay attention to each and every single economic number

In simple:

@BeSomebodyFX

When a closely (by the central bank) looked economic number prints outside of expectations, that’s when you have to pay attention.

Because that’s when there’s usually a trend to ride out of it.

Because if a random economic number that the central bank doesn’t care about prints even double what’s expected, it doesn’t matter!

Literally, if the central bank doesn’t care about it, then the market doesn’t care about it, or in other word… when it matters for the central bank, it matters for markets.

But feel free to read the full post to get the complete picture.

And any question, feel free to ask.

[ontario]

Any macroeconomic book will explain how changes in some key macroeconomic parameters impact decisions of central banks to change monetary policy. The rest is estimation how well are markets prepared to consensus reading or deviation from from forecasts which basically drives price changes. Understanding of the latter is all about experience and constant monitoring of preliminary data which helps market to understand what to expect.