Happy May to everyone! I hope things are nice where you are! Here in Arizona, it’s starting to get hot, so I’m taking a much-needed vacation in hopes of beating the heat for a week. Since I won’t have a timely economic update for you, I figured I’d put together a list of great sources for economic and market data and analysis.
FRED – Federal Reserve Economic Data https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
Here, you will find almost any economic data point you can think of. From unemployment, GDP, CPI, and interest rates, there is virtually everything economic-related here in one place where you can do research and see how things change over time. If you or your team like having data in spreadsheets for analysis, they also have an Excel plugin and a Python API that you can use to pull bulk data for analysis. FRED is a reliable source that many news publications and analysts rely on for up-to-date information on the economic environment.
Market Data
Everyone has their favorite place to go for market data, and I don’t know that there is a ‘best’ place here. However, there are many good resources that are free to use and pull in good analyst data. Here are a couple that I like.
If you like having a ton of data at your fingertips that you can pull into spreadsheet format while having a good, free website to review tickers, Yahoo Finance or yfinance (a Python module) is a great source. SimFin would be another version, but data downloads are delayed unless you pay for a subscription.
Schwab Advisor Center is a great research site that most on the advisory side have access to. SAC pulls in a ton of data and research from Morningstar that is otherwise behind a paywall and is easy to use and reliable. To access the area I’m referencing, you would just need to log in to Schwab and click on the research tab.
Market Commentary and Research
Again, there are many great places for this, but I really like JP Morgan Asset Management. You can create a login and get access to portfolio analysis tools and insights. They also have their Guide to the Markets publication here, as well as their Long-Term Capital Market assumptions, two pieces that are often referenced in the industry.
I would love to hear about great tools that you like and what help you be a great advisor to your clients. Have a great month and I hope things are going well for you all!
