Economic and Technical Market Indicators for Stock Buying and Selling Decisions

Economic and Technical Market Indicators for Stock Buying and Selling Decisions

When trying to determine if you should buy, sell, or hold a stock you will often look for indicators as to what the market is going to do next. Unfortunately the best stock market indicators are subject to opinion, even the greatest don't seem to agree on which indicator is the best for determining future market direction.

The best thing to do is learn all the popular indicators and use them when trying to make a stock entry or exit point decision. This is of great importance to an Individual Investor who has to make important stock decisions based on all the data they can get their hands on. Don't leave without checking out the commodities section, also have a crude oil dashboard, excellent for crude traders.

This website was created to be a central location for several important indicators, this site can be used to quickly check the status of the US and World Economies. More indicators are periodically added, so you may want to link or bookmark for future reference. There is nothing worse then going long when the market has peeked and starting to go down, if you keep a close monitor on these indicators maybe it won't happen to you. Good luck with all your future trades!
Best Economic Stock Buy/Sell Indicators
Click Here For The Wall Street Journal

Economic Market Indicators are more important to the Trader who is making buy/sell transactions on a longer period of time. If you are holding stocks for several weeks or months then the economic indicators are of great importance.

Rail Traffic Car Loadings
This indicator monitors the amount of goods transported via rail. There are graphs for weekly loading data, year to year comparisons, and rolling averages. The Wall Street Journal said the railfax reports are one of the timeliest gauges of economic activity. More information on understanding the Railfax Economic Indicator. There could be some benefit or early market indication by tracking the actual stock price of the largest railroad companies like Union Pacific Corporation (UNP).

Baltic Exchange Dry Index
This indicator monitors worldwide shipping prices for dry bulk cargo. This is a very good leading indicator due to the goods transported being the materials used to produce goods. Companies don't order materials unless they know there is a future demand for their products. More information on understanding the Baltic Dry Index Market Indicator.

ATA Truck Tonnage Index
The American Trucking Association collects tonnage data being transported each month from all the major carriers. More information on understanding the Truck Tonnage Index Market Indicator. You will have to search for the Tonnage Data on the internet due to a membership being required to view data on the ATA site, the tonnage data graph can be found periodically at Calculated Risk Blog.

Calculated Risk Data via FeedBurner
Feedburner provides the latest data provided by Calculated Risk, when new popular economic data is released it usually shows up quickly on feedburner. More information on what is Calculated Risk Blog. A few of the market indicators found there are NAHB Builder Confidence data graph, Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization, Consumer Sentiment, Retail Sales, and Trade Deficit.

Equity Fund Inflows & Outflows
The Fund Inflow/Outflow data is a very good market indicator for determining if money is flowing into the market or being pulled out of the market. When money inflow is increasing this is a bullish sign. The data at the link above is only for the most current reports, the website requires a username/password for full access. For more information see our sample Weekly Equity/Bond Inflow/Outflow Chart.

Online Daily Price Index Indicator
This Inflation Index tracks very closely with the CPI but the data is updated daily, this can be used as an early market indicator. MIT currently monitors daily price fluctuations of ~5 million items sold by ~300 online retailers in more than 70 countries. Once you arrive at the website you will need to select the country to load DPI data. *Currently only displaying the world inflation index. The Billion Prices Project @ MIT.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a government site that holds all the data for the most important economic indicators; Inflation & Prices, Employment, Unemployment, Pay & Benefits, Spending & Time Use and Productivity. This site will display graphs for specific economic data or you can actually pull the raw data for your own use. Use the top picks button, retrieve data, then check box add graph.

Federal Reserve System Statistics Data
Federal Reserve Data for download on Bank Assets and Liabilities, Business Finance, Exchange Rates, Flow of Funds, House Hold Finance, Industrial Activity, Interest Rates, and Money Stock and Reserve Balances. This data from the Federal Reserve is economic indicator gold! Interesting find on this data - Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary Base - H.3 - Starting in Aug 2008 the Bank reserves has increased and maintained an extremely high level with respect to the previous 50 years worth of data.

US Unemployment Rate
The US Unemployment Rate is a very popular market indicator, this site gives some very nice graphs including min, mean, and max for any user determined time line. Unemployment Data graph from the United States Department of Labor.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The Gross Domestic Product is the measure of value on all goods and services produced domestically by a country. The GDP is one of the main market indicators for determining how well a country is doing as a whole. The GDP correlates very well with the standard of living.

Economic Events Release Calendar
Get the latest and past economic indicator release data for help in determining the market direction. Future economic release events can also be viewed. Economic indicators are listed for all major countries. You can also click on the event and options will come up for data graphs or previous raw data.

Market Monitoring Trader Tools

Latest Breaking Market News (MarketWatch)
Stay ahead of the stock trading game with the latest news that can take markets up or down quickly. MarketWatch also has a nice chart app that shows the Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, Global Dow, Gold, and Oil all within the same window. There are tabs for Europe, Asia, and Currency chart data. You should always compare multiple news outlets to filter out any network bias, here are a few other market news websites to monitor: CNBC Market News, Bloomberg Market News, CNN Breaking News.

US Market After Hours Quotes (CNN)
After Hours quotes for the Dow, S&P, and the Nasdaq futures market. Get a look at what the market is doing before the actual NYSE trading day begins or after it has ended. CNN list after hours future graphs for the major 3 US indexes. Here is a second source for After Hours Futures Data from CNBC, CNBC usually has the more current data, not real-time but close.

Insider Stock Trading Market Indicator
Insider buying can be viewed as a positive sign for the stock or market while insider selling can be negative or bearish. View the Daily Real-time Insider Trading Reports for buying and selling. The top page will show a pie chart for the current day of buys versus sells and company position.

World Stock Markets
Tracking all the major world indexes can give you an indication of where the us market could be headed. The link above shows major indexes for North/South America, Europe, and ASIA. When another country starts having economic issues it can start spreading to other nations and this should be monitored.

World Currency Market Indicators
World currencies can be used or monitored for many different economic signals. When the US dollar drops against other currencies this can be beneficial to large US companies which earn money through exports. For determining how the US dollar is trending use the Real-time - US Dollar Index Spot. There also is an ETF that tracks the US Dollar, UUP - US Dollar Index (Bullish).

Forex EURO Dollar Real-time Dashboard
The Forex market is the trading of world currencies, a few of the most popular trades to put on is the EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CAD, EUR/CHF, EUR/JPY, and EUR/GBP. The more popular (liquid) the currency pair the lower the pip spread, this allows you to make profit quicker. Forex allows for high margins (high risk), typical is 50:1 for US accounts.

EUR/USD Advanced Forex Chart
If you are looking for some free real-time advanced charts then Forex Pros has some great tools, they also allow you to view their members sentiment from Bearish to Bullish percentage. Advanced charts are available for most all currencies.

Popular Commodities for Monitoring Markets

[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]
[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]
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Copper Metal Price
Copper is used in the manufacturing of all types of consumer goods, so the price of Copper can be a good indicator for determining the amount of products being purchased. Multiple charts can be found at this site from 24 hour all the way to 5 year graph of price levels.

Silver Metal Price
Silver is used in the manufacturing of all types of consumer goods, so the price of Silver can be a good indicator for determining the amount of products being purchased. Press Ctrl and Click Refresh for Chart Updates on the right.
If you trade Silver on Forex or US markets using ETFs check out our Real-time Spot Silver Dashboard. We also have a Real-time Spot Gold Dashboard.

Crude Oil Price Monitoring Dashboard
Crude Oil Dashboard
Crude Oil prices can be a stock market and economic indicator due to the impact on consumer spending as prices fluctuate up and down. Click here for Real-time Crude Oil Dashboard, multiple time increment crude oil charts. ETFs can be a good trading vehicle for commodities. Monitor Crude Oil using Weekly Crude Oil Prices/Stocks/Production/Imports Data.

Natural Gas Weekly Price Chart
The price of Natural Gas can indicate that manufacturing is increasing or decreasing due to the use of this energy source, more demand brings higher prices. Learn more about what affects Natural Gas Price and get the latest NG Underground Storage Data. This indicator has lost a little of its luster due to the new fracking process which has led to an oversupply.

Best Technical Stock Buy/Sell Indicators

Technical Market Indicators are more important to the day trader who will be making buy/sell transactions on a short period of time. If you make stock trades throughout a single day in minutes or hours then the technical indicators should be observed constantly.

S&P 500 Percent of Stocks Above 50 DMA
This Stock Market Indicator gives the total percent of stocks inside the S&P500 index which are trading above their 50 day moving average. This is a quick way to see a large scope of 500 companies stock price direction or momentum. When this indicator starts rising it shows the stock market in general is turning bullish.

NYSE Summation Index (EOD Update)
This Stock Market Indicator gives a cumulative sum of all daily McClellan oscillator readings for the NYSE advance/decline issues. The daily McClellan Oscillator is a momentum indicator that is applied to the exchange advance/decline stats.

NYSE Bullish Percent Index (EOD Update)
This Stock Market Indicator takes the total number of NYSE stocks with a positive Point and Figure buy signal and divides by the total number of stocks in the NYSE. A P&F stock buy signal is a column of X's going higher than the previous column of X's.

Basic S&P 500 Daily View Chart
The Basic Chart of a Major index like the S&P 500 with 50 and 200 day moving average lines is a commonly used indicator to quickly determine where the market currently stands.

S&P 500 P/E Ratio Chart
The S&P 500 P/E Ratio is the average P/E of all stocks which make up the index. The S&P 500 P/E Ratio is a very good market timing indicator.

Volatility Index (VIX) Market Fear Indicator
The VIX is used for determining the volatility of the current market. The higher the number the more volatile or greater the price movement swings will occur and usually coincides with bear market conditions. When the VIX is 20 or below this is usually a time of more stable prices and is a bullish indicator.

CBOE Put/Call Option Ratio
The Chicago Board Options Exchange monitors the amount of put contracts and call contracts that are purchased. They turn this into a ratio and this is then called the Put/Call Ratio. When this ratio is below 1 it signals bullish market conditions due to more people buying call options. When the number rises above 1 the opposite holds true, more people are buying put options.

CBOE Option Total Put/Call Ratio Graph
This Stock Market Indicator charts the daily CBOE Put/Call Ratio with simple moving averages to help eliminate the noise or sporadic data points. The chart link is set with daily points invisible, the line data is set on 2 Day SMA, 20SMA, & 40SMA.

Market Breadth Indicators
The Breadth Indicators are for graphing the new highs versus new lows and Advancing versus declining issues for the major exchanges. The breadth charts are for the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, and the AMEX.

Arms Index (TRIN Definition)
The TRIN is a short term indicator derived from taking the Advance/Decline Issues and dividing by the Advance/Decline Volume. Here is a graph of the New York Stock Exchange TRIN. The TRIN number swings wildly so you really have to focus on the daily and weekly PPO trend data to cancel out all the noise. For Day Traders the 5 minute bar TRIN Indicator with VIX overlay can be an important indicator.

TED Spread Market Indicator
The TED spread is an indicator used for determining credit risk. The number represents the difference between US Treasury (3 month) contract price and Eurodollar (3 month) contract price with the same expiration dates. If you take a look at the TED Spread chart you can see the correlation to stock market prices.

Money Flow Stock Indicator (MFI)
The Money Flow indicator attempts to calculate the amount of money buying versus selling a stock at the end of each period (data frequency setting). Stock Chart for Intel with MFI indicator turned on. More information on understanding the Money Flow Indicator.

Price Movement with Increased Volume
This can sometimes be overlooked but anytime you have a price change and the volume is breaking out this can be a strong indicator of future price direction.

50/200 DMA Crossover
When the 50 Day Moving Average Crosses the 200 Day Moving Average this can be a sign of future continued weakness or strength depending on if the 50 DMA is going above or below the 200 DMA. Some traders will actually reduce the moving averages to 5 and 20 to get an early indication of market direction. If this terminology sounds confusing then here is a better description of 50/200 DMA Crossover. Here is a S&P 500 chart with the 5/20 Simple DMA turned on.

Free Real-time Market Indicators
Get free real-time stock quote charts on the most important US Indexes and other stocks that trade on the NYSE or Nasdaq markets.

Point & Figure Charts
Point and Figure Charts are more old school but are very good indicators when trying to quickly find support and resistance levels. P&F Charts are used by many who like to buy on breakouts or sell when falling through support levels. View a P&F Graph for the Dow Jones Industrial Averages

Moving Average Convergence / Divergence (MACD)
The MACD is a technical indicator which takes the difference in two exponential moving averages. The most commonly used settings are the delta 12 and 26 period EMA line and the 9 period EMA signal. When the 12/26 EMA line is above the 9 EMA line this is usually a bullish sign and the price of the stock is increasing. When the 9 EMA line is above the 12/26 the opposite occurs and this is a bearish indicator. Dow Chart with MACD.

Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO)
The Percentage Price Oscillator momentum indicator can signal when a stock is oversold or overbought. The Full Description including formulas of PPO Indicator can be found at the above link. If you look at the top of the chart you can see the PPO indicator and how it tracks with the stock movement, Chart with PPO Indicator.

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Stock Market Swing Trader Indicators
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