Consensus Outlook
Forecasters see the November international trade balance at a consensus deficit of $54.0 billion. This would compare with a $55.5 billion deficit in October and a monthly average deficit of $52.9 billion in the third quarter. Note this report was delayed because of the government shutdown.
Relative Performance Index
Econoday's RPI provides a handy summary measure of how an economy has recently been evolving relative to market expectations.
A reading above zero means that the economy in general has been performing more strongly than expected and vice versa for a reading below zero. The closer is the value to the maximum (+100) or minimum (-100) levels, the greater is the degree to which markets have been under- or over-estimating economic activity.
A zero outturn would imply that, on average, the market consensus has been correct. Note too that the index is sensitized to place extra weight upon those indicators that investors consider to be the most important.
Definition
Updating the goods portion of the advance report and offering initial data on services, this report provides complete information on cross-border trade. Merchandise trade is available by export, import and trade balance for six principal end-use commodity categories and for more than one hundred principal commodity groupings. Data are also available for 48 countries and 7 geographic regions. Detailed information is reported on oil and motor vehicle imports. Services trade is available by export, import and trade balance for seven principal end-use categories. Why Investors Care