Leading vs. Lagging Economic Indicators: Predicting vs. Confirming Trends

It doesn't matter if you trade currencies, stocks, indices or any other financial instruments, it is important to first get a complete picture of the situation in the related country. In particular, it is necessary to understand what forces influence the national economy and what type of news you need to follow first.

Indicators (news) in the Economic Calendar usually fall into one of the categories below:

• Leading indicators
• Lagging indicators
• Coincident indicators