Mini Macro
Sign in

Learn

Learn the numbers

Eight short reads, about four minutes each. Enough to know what you are calling and why the room goes quiet at 8:30.
  1. The jobs reportPayrolls, the unemployment rate, and why the first Friday of the month is the loudest morning in markets.4 min read
  2. Inflation: CPI and PCEThe two price gauges, why 0.1 percent matters, and why the Fed watches core PCE.4 min read
  3. The Fed decisionWhat the FOMC decides, what hold, cut and hike mean in basis points, and how markets price it before the meeting.4 min read
  4. GDPThe broadest scorecard of the economy, why it is quoted as an annualized rate, and why the advance estimate is the one that matters.3 min read
  5. Retail sales and the consumerWhy a noisy monthly number about shopping matters, and which part of it economists actually watch.3 min read
  6. Weekly jobless claimsThe Thursday number: the fastest labor market signal there is, and how to keep its noise from fooling you.3 min read
  7. Producer prices (PPI)What businesses get paid, why it runs a step ahead of what shoppers pay, and why forecasters use it to guess the Fed's favorite inflation number.3 min read
  8. Job openings (JOLTS)How many jobs are waiting to be filled, how often people quit, and why the Fed watched this survey so closely after 2021.3 min read
  9. Housing startsNew homes breaking ground: the part of the economy that feels mortgage rates first, and one of the noisiest numbers in the game.3 min read
  10. Consumer sentimentThe University of Michigan's read on how people feel about money and the economy, and the inflation expectations inside it.3 min read
  11. The dot plotWhere each Fed official sees rates going, four times a year, and how to read the chart this site is named after.3 min read
  12. How consensus worksWhere the line comes from, why surprises move markets more than levels, and how Mini Macro sets the house line.4 min read
  13. How to read a printA 90-second checklist for 8:30, the traps that catch new players, and exactly how the game scores.4 min read