U.S. Economic Statistics

As you might expect, the treasure closest to home is the easiest to find. Because the Internet got its start in the U.S, and because the U.S. has a long history of publicly available accounting and economic research, there is more information available online concerning the U.S. economy than any other. The following guide is meant to provide an easy reference to the most commonly followed U.S. economic statistics, and includes the Data Available, the online publisher, and the Web address. "Overall Site Grade" is my own subjective impression of each site, based primarily on comprehensiveness of content, explanations and commentary, and ease of navigation.

Consumer Confidence Index	Conference Board
Overall Site Grade: A	http://www.conference-board.org/
The Conference Board publishes the Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators at this site, but also publishes an executive magazine "Across the Board," and sponsors conferences, councils and meetings, which are described on the Website.

Consumer Credit	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: B+	www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases/G19
Although this site lacks interpretive commentary and a glossary of terms, it does a comprehensive job of providing numbers. Users will find monthly summaries of overall consumer debt, and breakdowns of interest rates, loan types, and loans by type of institution.

Consumer Price Index	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Overall Site Grade: A-	stats.bls.gov/cpihome.htm
Everything you ever wanted to know about consumer prices can be found at this site. Extensive definitions are available, as are breakdowns of CPI by major geographic areas, types of expense and population segments. Users can even find out how the data is gathered and tabulated.

Employment and Income	Bureau of Labor Statistics/Census
Overall Site Grade: A-	http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/pub/pubtopic.htm
A monster site, with more numbers than you can shake a computer at. Monthly summaries dating back about four years are available, and each summary includes extensive breakdowns, definitions and commentary. Also included are over 20 other research and data publications.

Foreign Exchange Rates	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: B	http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases/H10/
Some 24 foreign currency units tracked against the U.S. Dollar. A Weekly publication that breaks data down into days. No data interpretation, commentary or definitions.

Gross Domestic Product	Dryden Press
Overall Site Grade: A+	www.dryden.com/state.html
Dryden Press is a leading college publisher in business disciplines. Their .State of the Economyê page is an excellent jumping-off point for all kinds of domestic economic research, and includes source references and charts. Youêll find GDP at the top of the page.

Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: B	www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases/G17
Basically, monthly data on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, with little extra breakdown or interpretive commentary.

Interest Rates	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: B	www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases/H15
I used to shell out about $30 per year to get the exact same weekly reports that are now available at this Website. Interest rates are averaged for the week, then broken down by day, by major borrower markets, and include Treasury constant maturities. Historical rates available back to 1996.

Labor Productivity Report	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Overall Site Grade: B	stats.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.t01.htm
This numbers-based site contains statistics on productivity, hourly compensation, unit labor costs, and prices, seasonally adjusted.

Leading Indicators	Conference Board
Overall Site Grade: A
The Conference Board publishes the Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators at this site, but also publishes an executive magazine "Across the Board," and sponsors

Money Supply À Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary Base	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: B	www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases/H3/
Reserves and borrowings of depository institutions. A weekly report, dating back (on the Website) to May 1997.

Money Supply À Stock, Liquid Assets and Debt Measures (M1, M2, M3, debt)	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: B+
This weekly Fed report covers the all-important major money supply measures, M1, M2 and M3, as well as debt. Fortunately, there are numerous footnotes to help the user wade through the extensive data

	Federal Reserve
Overall Site Grade: A	www.stls.frb.org/publications/mt/
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis hosts a truly fine Website, and the Monetary Trends monthly report is no exception. Although the reports date back only to 1998, they are broken down into major subject areas, and viewable both in GIF and PDF formats; GIF for speed of download, PDF for clarity of viewing and printing. Donêt miss the rest of this Website!

	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Overall Site Grade: A-	stats.bls.gov/ppihome.htm
Although limited to discussion of PPI, this site does a thorough job, and provides supplementary commentary, explanations of methodology and fairly well thought out navigation and organization.