The economic calendar lists every scheduled release that can move prices: inflation, employment, GDP, purchasing managers' surveys, central-bank decisions. Each line shows the previous reading, the consensus forecast and, once published, the actual number. The importance rating tells you how much the market usually cares.
Three ways to use it
- Avoid. Know when the high-impact releases are and do not have a tight stop in the market at that moment. Spreads widen and liquidity vanishes for about a minute either side.
- Prepare. Before the number, know what a beat and a miss would mean for the asset you trade. For the dollar, a hot inflation print is usually bullish; for gold and long-duration stocks, usually bearish.
- Position. Trade the trend that the data confirms, after the first candle closes, rather than the knee-jerk.
The releases that move the most
- Central-bank rate decisions and press conferences
- US consumer price inflation (CPI)
- US non-farm payrolls (first Friday of the month)
- ISM manufacturing and services surveys
- GDP first estimates
Reading the surprise
The market does not react to the number; it reacts to the gap between the number and the consensus, filtered through what traders privately expected. A reading in line with consensus can still move prices if positioning was leaning the other way. Watch the first fifteen minutes and let the market tell you which way it was leaning.
Our calendar page shows the full schedule in your local time, with a filter for high-impact events only.