Distilling the Macroeconomic News Flow

48 Pages Posted: 20 Feb 2013 Last revised: 21 Mar 2014

See all articles by Alessandro Beber

Alessandro Beber

Cass Business School; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Michael W. Brandt

Duke University - Fuqua School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Maurizio Luisi

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 20, 2014

Abstract

We propose a simple cross-sectional technique to extract daily factors from economic news released at different times and frequencies. Our approach can effectively handle the large number of different announcements that are relevant for tracking current economic conditions.

We apply the technique to extract real-time measures of inflation, output, employment, and macroeconomic sentiment, as well as corresponding measures of disagreement among economists about these indices. We find that our procedure provides more timely and accurate forecasts of future changes in economic conditions than other real-time forecasting approaches.

Keywords: macroeconomic news, nowcasting, disagreement

JEL Classification: G12

Suggested Citation

Beber, Alessandro and Brandt, Michael W. and Luisi, Maurizio, Distilling the Macroeconomic News Flow (March 20, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2220457 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2220457

Alessandro Beber (Contact Author)

Cass Business School ( email )

London, EC2Y 8HB
Great Britain

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Michael W. Brandt

Duke University - Fuqua School of Business ( email )

1 Towerview Drive
Durham, NC 27708-0120
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Maurizio Luisi

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
3,229
Abstract Views
6,746
Rank
6,328
PlumX Metrics