Economic calendar
An economic calendar lists, day by day, the releases of official statistics and central bank decisions: CPI, NFP, FOMC or ECB decisions. Each line shows the time, the expected impact (often a color code, red for high impact), and three columns: the number released (Actual), the consensus forecast (Forecast), and the previous number (Previous). It is the gap between actual and forecast that moves markets. Set to your own time zone, it spares you the traps of the weeks when clocks change. Reading a release: the guide to economic releases; setting up the most widely used calendar: the Forex Factory guide.
See also
The index that tracks, month after month, the prices US consumers pay.
The monthly US jobs report: jobs created, unemployment, and wages.
Trading the volatility that follows an economic release or a market event.
The size and speed of an asset’s price swings.