ArcaMax

Every day there’s a new headline number that impacts the markets. Whether it’s about inflation or employment, about consumer confidence or the rates set at Treasury auctions, each number seems to move the markets — for a moment, at least. And despite all the commentary surrounding those reports, the only true response is felt in the global marketplace for stocks and bonds.

You have two choices in dealing with that deluge of daily info: You can decide you’re a long-term investor and simply ignore it. Or you can anticipate each news release and time your purchase and sale decisions around to try to get an "edge" over market reactions.

The problem for most investors is that they have no idea where to get that information needed to make timely decisions. Or where to check daily prices and get historical pricing perspective. As a result, they’re always a half-step behind the professional investor.

For most people, it doesn’t make sense to make investment decisions on a daily news basis. Instead, it’s best to just decide on an asset allocation — stocks, bonds, chicken money (CDs, T-bills, money market funds) and perhaps some other assets such as gold, crypto and real estate. Then stick with that allocation plan until your own circumstances dictate change.

Whether you want to make more frequent decisions, or just feel less surprised by the daily news reports, here’s a guide to finding real-time market information.

Most government and institutional economic reports are delivered on a monthly schedule, known well in advance. Whether it’s housing starts or the trade deficit, consumer prices (CPI) or unemployment, these reports occur on a regular day of the week or date each month.

For example, the Labor Department reports the unemployment figures on the first Friday of every month in the employment situation report. But the initial jobless claims report gives a preview the day before. And the JOLTS (job openings and labor turnover) report typically comes out in the first few days of the month.

Some private monthly surveys tend to have market-moving impact. Examples include the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report which is issued mid-month, and Conference Board’s monthly survey of consumer confidence, which is published at 10 a.m. ET on the last Tuesday of every month.

To find a schedule of all these reports for the week ahead, and for the rest of the month, go to Marketwatch.com, and click on the “Economy” tab on the homepage. Then, click on “U.S. Economic Reports” to see a calendar of all upcoming reports, including the previous month’s figure and the latest street estimates of what the next report will say. Bookmark this page.

Almost everyone knows you can go online to various sites to get instant (sometimes 15 minutes delayed) stock market quotes. For this kind of information, start at CNBC.com. It’s easy to search stocks by name. You will instantly get the price, as well as the latest news for that company and for its industry category.

Each stock page provides an interactive price graph. You can easily see the high and low prices for the year — and for that day’s trading. But you can also click to expand that graph to see the price changes for the past year, past five years or the entire past trading history of the company.

While stock prices are easy to find, most people are completely blind about the interest rate (bond) market, even though the bond market dwarfs the stock market in valuation. Remember, there is more than $30 trillion of U.S. debt outstanding, much of it trading on a daily basis.

When investors fear that inflation is on the rise, they sell U.S bonds, pushing prices down and yields higher. Yes, if you hold on to maturity you’ll get the face value of that bond. But in the interim, trading prices (and thus yields) may fluctuate wildly on longer-term bonds.

Or perhaps you’re just wondering where T-bill yields are trading this week, to get an idea of what the auction results might be in the following week. To find out, at CNBC.com click on the “Markets” tab at the top of the home page. Then, from the drop-down menu, click on “Bonds.”

The first thing you’ll see is the current trading price (and yield) of all U.S. debt securities — ranging from three- and six-month Treasury bills to 30 year U.S. government bonds. And you can see the change in yield for that day’s trading.

Similarly, under the Market tab drop-down menu, you can track the current price of gold and crypto currencies, as well as foreign bond yields, currencies and futures.

All this information is hiding in plain sight, no longer accessible only to professionals. Whether you use it to trade or merely to stay current on topics of conversation, you too can have all the information at your fingertips. That’s The Savage Truth.

========

(Terry Savage is a registered investment adviser and the author of four best-selling books, including “The Savage Truth on Money.” Terry responds to questions on her blog at TerrySavage.com.)

©2025 Terry Savage. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.