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conversations.value: What is a description for a book titled Economic Indicators For Dummies about with the genre: Science & Math, Mathematics?
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conversations.value: Your plain-English guide to making sense of economicindicators
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conversations.value: What is the first five paragraphs for this book?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Economic Indicators For Dummies
  Investors use other precious metals, like silver, platinum, and palladium, as a hedge against inflation in the same way they use gold, so price trends in these metals can serve as economic indicators, too. (However, be aware that silver prices tend to be volatile and have occasionally been subject to illegal price manipulation, which diminishes its usefulness as an economic indicator.) Like gold, these metals have both industrial and jewelry uses. The USGS offers production reports for these metals, as well, although the reports for platinum and palladium are combined. You can find the reports at the following websites:
  Energy prices generally rise during periods of economic expansion and fall during recessions, and they're certainly subject to inflationary pressures. In addition, rising energy prices can impact pricing for products and services across the economic spectrum, including heavy industry, transportation, and even retail. However, energy prices are also highly subject to supply disruptions caused by hurricanes, floods, and geopolitical tensions. For this reason, investors need to be aware of any supply constraints that may account for changes in energy pricing.
  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) makes keeping track of the energy markets easy to do. The DOE follows production, current supplies, and current utilization for all energy products, including coal, electricity, nuclear power, geothermal energy, hydropower, natural gas, crude oil (also called petroleum), and renewable sources like bioenergy, solar power, and wind. Crude oil and natural gas are the most interesting to investors, so I focus on them in the following sections.
  Crude oil isn't the only energy product investors need to watch, but it may be the most economically sensitive commodity of all. Because the United States is dependent on crude oil for transportation, its price directly affects consumer prices for a number of products. To underscore the extent of crude oil's economic sensitivity, consider this: Spikes in the price of crude oil have coincided with almost every economic recession since the OPEC-fueled gas shortage in 1973 (OPEC stands for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries).
  When crude oil is refined, it yields a number of other commodity products (sometimes called petroleum products), including gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel, as well as plastics, resins, and petroleum jelly. One standard 42-gallon barrel of oil can create about 44 gallons of petroleum products (see Figure 15-1 for a visual representation of what you get from one gallon of oil).
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conversations.value: What is five more paragraphs?
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conversations.value: The report shows 13 months of the survey results. The Expectations Index looks forward, and most economists consider it an excellent leading indicator. Figure 17-5 shows a summary of the survey results for the four business sectors — manufacturing, construction, wholesale, and retail.
  The lines labeled Assessment of Business Situation in the graphs in Figure 17-5 correspond to the Present Situation Index for each of the sectors. The lines labeled Business Expectations represent the Expectations Index.
  You may recognize a similarity between the IFO Business Climate Survey and the U.S. Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The survey technique is similar, as is the reporting. (See Chapter 10 for details.)
  Japan is the third-largest single-country economy (behind the United States and China), the world's fourth-largest exporter, and one of the United States' most significant trading partners. No wonder you need to be aware of the Japanese economy if you're considering overseas investing.
  You don't have to look hard to find reliable Japanese economic statistics in English. In fact, the country provides several reports that are more than thorough and, thus, make for excellent economic resources for investors and business leaders. The Japanese indicators are well documented, using everyday language. You don't need a degree in economics or statistics to understand these reports.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the last five paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR): The interbank overnight loan rate commercial banks charge each other when loaning money in the London wholesale money market. It's like the federal funds rate, but it measures the interest rate for transactions outside the control of the Federal Reserve.
  Sector Rotation Model: An investment model that shows how the stock market in general and stocks in specific sectors tend to move in advance of the economy or business cycle.
  Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS): U.S. Treasury bonds whose principal and interest payments adjust for inflation.
  Treasury International Capital System (TIC): The system that measures cash flows into and out of the United States for investments (including investments in U.S. Treasury securities), common stocks, commodities, currencies, and derivatives.
  Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report: This indicator provides the number of claims filed by unemployed individuals for unemployment insurance assistance.