This monthly survey evaluates the future strength of the economy. Consumer optimism will of course have a positive impact on the strength or weakness of an economy. When consumer confidence is high the purchase of goods and services tends to increase as well, thus stimulating economic growth.

PCE stands for Personal Consumption Expenditures; The Core PCE Price Index is a measurement of consumer inflation rates, as seen when purchasing goods and services. PCE gauges the level of price changes seen within consumer goods and services.  Core PCE excludes Food and Energy because month-to-month purchase volatility of such can skew underlining consumer trends. The Federal Reserve tends to favor this indicator for its clear look at consumer inflation, for this reason traders watch the Core PCE closely.

The University of Michigan conducts this monthly survey. Respondents are asked to measure and evaluate both the present and the future strength of the economy. Consumer optimism will of course have a positive impact on the strength or weakness of an economy. When consumer confidence is high the purchase of goods and services tends to increase as well, thus stimulating economic growth.

Core Durable Goods Orders essentially reports the same data as does ‘Durable Goods Orders’ minus data including Transportation components.

Purchase orders for aircraft and automobile components often see rapid increases for brief periods and thus distorts month to month and year over year comparisons

Be on the lookout for instances where the short terms moving average crosses over the long term one. For example, when a stock price crosses the 20 period moving averages, and then the 50, while the 20 then follows the price, would be a good area to short. Note that bounce backs towards the 20 period moving averages would then act as areas of resistance, and could offer more short selling opportunities. Once again, be on the lookout for big volume with price declines to confirm a down trend.

In the UK for example with listed equities, the London Stock Exchange stipulates that Director Dealings must be reporting within 5 business days. The LSE then makes the announcement public. Most CFD platforms include Director dealing as a news service.

The trading strategy is to open a CFD position soon after the director dealings announcement, to get the benefit of a stock rally over the medium term.

This strategy concentrates on significant Director Dealings. Situations where the Directors of the company has bought a significant amount of shares in a company. What you are looking for is a situation where the top management has bought significant amount of shares relative to their standard salaries. Dealings buy the CEO, Chairman, and FD, is of particular importance. It’s extremely positive when several members of the board buy large quantities of shares as well.

This strategy involves taking positions in currency for example the Euro, and the pound, and index instruments such as the Dow Jones, S&P500, and the NASDAQ prior to major economic releases. Positions can be taken two to one day, to even hours and minutes before the announcement. This strategy does incorporate significant risk, and investors are advised to have stop losses in place at the time of opening the position.

The time horizon for holing a position can either be a very short time frame, just for a few minutes, to a day or so after the news event. Highly liquid stocks can be traded in the same way as the indices.