What Are the Key Releases?

When trading news, you first have to know which releases are actually expected that week. There are many ways to do this, but Daily FX provides a very comprehensive calendar. Second, it is key for you to know which data is important. The Daily FX calendar bolds the important releases and also lists the "consensus" figures. Generally speaking, these are the most important economic releases for any country:
1. Interest rate decision
2. Retail sales
3. Inflation (consumer price or producer price)
4. Unemployment
5. Industrial production
6. Business sentiment surveys
7. Consumer confidence surveys
8. Trade balance
9 Manufacturing sector surveys Depending on the current state of the economy, the relative importance of these releases may change. For example, unemployment may be more important this month than trade or interest rate decisions. Therefore, it is important to keep on top of what the market is focusing on at the moment.The list in Figure 2 ranks the most market-moving data for the U.S. in 2007, on both a 20-minute and a daily basis. The difference in reaction is generally attributed to the depth of the data. Some releases provide barely more information than the headline number, while others provide extensive tables that can be subject to different interpretations. Keep in mind that U.S. dollar data tends to be the most important in the FX market because the dollar is involved in 90% of all currency trades