Other Variables Used as Economic Indicators

Other aggregate cyclical measures include surveys of industrialists, bankers, labor associations, and households on the state of their finances, level of activity, and their confidence in the future.

The “Beige Book”

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) polls

“Purchasing managers” indexes

Using a statistical technique called “principal components analysis,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago computes the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI). The CFNAI is computed using 85 monthly macroeconomic series. These series cover industrial production, personal income, capital utilization, employment by sectors, housing starts, retail sales, and so on.