Overview
The economic calendar is your roadmap for market-moving events. Best practices: (1) Every Sunday, review the week's high-impact events (โ โ โ ) โ NFP, CPI, FOMC, GDP releases. Large surprises in these events can trigger sharp index, yield, and currency moves. (2) Note the exact release time (usually 8:30 AM or 10:00 AM ET for U.S. data) and position accordingly. (3) Focus on the 'consensus' vs. 'previous' columns โ markets price in consensus; surprises create volatility. A miss of more than one standard deviation often triggers outsized moves. (4) Watch for clustering โ multiple releases on the same day amplify volatility. (5) Pre-position or reduce risk before high-impact events. (6) Check the revision column โ revisions to previous months' data can be as market-moving as the new release. Track which releases the market is most sensitive to during the current cycle (e.g., inflation data matters more during tightening cycles).