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Macro & Economic

US macro releases are the single largest source of scheduled volatility in this project's target futures. CPI, the Employment Situation (nonfarm payrolls), PPI, GDP, PCE, and retail sales all print at 8:30 a.m. ET and routinely gap ES/NQ/YM/RTY (and their micros) within milliseconds; ISM and University of Michigan land at 10:00 a.m. ET; FOMC statements at 2:00 p.m. ET with the press conference at 2:30 p.m. move the entire rates complex and, through real yields and the dollar, gold (1OZ/QO) and silver (QI/SIC). Crude (MCL/QM/BZ) responds to the growth-sensitive releases (payrolls, ISM, GDP) and to dollar moves. A trading system for these markets needs three distinct macro data layers: (1) the release calendar (exact timestamps + consensus forecasts), (2) the released values including revisions (and, for honest backtests, vintage values as originally published — ALFRED), and (3) market-implied policy expectations (fed funds ZQ and SOFR SR3 futures, CME FedWatch, Atlanta Fed Market Probability Tracker) that define what counts as a "surprise."

The good news is that the core of this category is free: FRED/ALFRED, the BLS/BEA/Census APIs, Treasury FiscalData and TreasuryDirect auction APIs, the Fed Board's calendar/minutes/SEP/speeches, and a family of regional-Fed nowcasts (GDPNow, Cleveland inflation nowcasts, NY Fed Staff Nowcast) are all publicly downloadable, most with documented JSON APIs that were probed live on 2026-07-11. The expensive/gated parts are exactly the ones the minimum-coverage list flags: ISM now 302-redirects even its report pages and release calendar to an SSO login (observed directly on 2026-07-11), S&P Global PMI history is subscription-only beyond press releases, University of Michigan headline data is free only after release (sponsors get more), Conference Board data sits behind membership/Data Central, and the Citi Economic Surprise Index is effectively Bloomberg/Citi-Velocity licensed. Machine-readable calendars with consensus are also a commercial product (Econoday, Trading Economics) unless you scrape retail sites.

One structural caveat: the October–November 2025 government shutdown left permanent holes in the official record — BLS collected no CPI data from Oct 1 to Nov 12, 2025 and cancelled the October 2025 CPI, and the October 2025 household-survey data (unemployment rate) were never collected. Any feature pipeline keyed to "monthly CPI/NFP always exists" must handle missing months, rescheduled release dates (revised BLS dates), and delayed prints (November 2025 CPI released December 18, 2025 per the BLS CPI schedule).

Release-time cheat sheet (all times ET)

ReleaseTypical timeCadence / daySchedule URL
CPI (BLS)8:30 a.m.Monthly, ~mid-monthBLS CPI schedule
Employment Situation / NFP (BLS)8:30 a.m.Monthly, usually first Friday (exceptions exist, e.g. Feb 11, 2026)BLS Empsit schedule
PPI (BLS)8:30 a.m. — verifyMonthlyBLS PPI schedule
GDP, Personal Income & Outlays/PCE (BEA)8:30 a.m.Monthly/quarterly per BEA scheduleBEA schedule
Advance retail sales MARTS (Census)8:30 a.m. — verifyMonthlyCensus economic indicators calendar
Advance durable goods (Census)8:30 a.m. — verifyMonthlyCensus economic indicators calendar
Initial jobless claims (DOL)8:30 a.m. Thursday — verifyWeeklyDOL UI data
ISM Manufacturing PMI10:00 a.m., 1st business day — verify (ISM calendar login-gated)Monthlyinvesting.com event page
ISM Services PMI10:00 a.m., 3rd business day — verifyMonthlyinvesting.com event page
UMich consumer sentiment10:00 a.m.; prelim ~2nd Friday, final ~2 weeks later2×/monthSurveys of Consumers
Conference Board consumer confidence10:00 a.m., last Tuesday — verifyMonthlyConference Board CCI
FOMC statement / SEP2:00 p.m. (presser 2:30 p.m.) — verify times8 meetings/yr; 2026: Jan 27–28, Mar 17–18, Apr 28–29, Jun 16–17, Jul 28–29, Sep 15–16, Oct 27–28, Dec 8–9FOMC calendars
FOMC minutes2:00 p.m., 3 weeks after each decision8×/yrFOMC calendars
Chicago Fed NFCI8:30 a.m. WednesdayWeeklyChicago Fed NFCI
Atlanta Fed GDPNowintraday, ~6–7 updates/month after inputs releaseContinuous within quarterGDPNow
Cleveland Fed inflation nowcasteach business day ~10:00 a.m.DailyInflation nowcasting
NY Fed Staff NowcastFridaysWeeklyNY Fed Nowcast

Free / official sources

FRED (St. Louis Fed) API

FieldValue
What it isThe canonical free US macro time-series warehouse; REST API over ~800k+ series with categories/releases/series/observations endpoints
CoverageAll headline macro that moves our futures: CPI, payrolls, GDP, PCE, retail sales, yields (H.15 mirrors), broad dollar index DTWEXBGS, GDPNow, NFCI, UMich headline (UMCSENT); NOT ISM (removed years ago), not S&P PMI, not Conference Board
GranularityDaily/weekly/monthly/quarterly series-level data (no intraday)
History depthDecades for core series (CPI to 1913 via BLS, payrolls to 1939); per-series
Latency / updatesSeries update shortly after source releases; FRED is a mirror, not a primary — headline series typically lag the 8:30 a.m. print by minutes to hours (verify per series)
Access methodREST API (JSON/XML), free API key; keyless calls rejected with error 400 "Variable api_key is not set" (probed live 2026-07-11); web UI CSV/Excel downloads
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
Licensing / redistributionFRED API Terms of Use; most series redistributable, but some third-party series carry restrictions — check series notes
Reliability caveatsRate limit 120 requests/min (documented by community clients fredr and fedfred, not on FRED's own docs — verify); FRED stores latest revised values — useless alone for backtesting release surprises (use ALFRED)
Best forPrimary macro store for research/features; the default source for everything not needing real-time or vintage values

ALFRED (vintage / real-time macro data)

FieldValue
What it isALFRED = "ArchivaL FRED": every FRED series as it appeared on any past date ("economic data time travel"), exposed through the same API via vintage_dates/realtime_start/realtime_end parameters (fred/series/vintagedates endpoint)
CoverageSame series universe as FRED, with vintage snapshots (site advertises vintages "since 2006"; many series have older reconstructed vintages — verify per series)
GranularitySame as FRED, plus vintage dimension
History depthVintage archive generally from 2006 onward; some series (GDP, payrolls) have vintages back to the 1990s via the Philadelphia Fed real-time dataset instead — cross-check
Latency / updatesNew vintage captured at each source revision
Access methodSame free REST API as FRED (pass realtime parameters); web downloads
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://alfred.stlouisfed.org/
Licensing / redistributionSame as FRED API terms
Reliability caveatsVintage timestamps are dates, not intraday times — you still need the release calendar to know the 8:30:00 a.m. moment; not every FRED series has full vintage history
Best forPoint-in-time correct backtests of macro-surprise strategies (what did the market know at the time?) — this is the single most important dataset in this category for avoiding look-ahead bias

BLS Public Data API (CPI, NFP/Employment Situation, PPI, JOLTS)

FieldValue
What it isThe Bureau of Labor Statistics' Public Data API serving all BLS series (CPI, CES payrolls, LAUS, PPI, JOLTS, ECI) by series ID
CoverageInflation and labor data driving ES/NQ and gold: CPI-U, core CPI, PPI final demand, nonfarm payrolls, average hourly earnings, unemployment rate, JOLTS
GranularityMonthly (weekly for some); series-level
History depthCPI monthly since 1913; payrolls since 1939 (per-survey)
Latency / updatesData loaded at official release time (8:30 a.m. ET per CPI and Employment Situation schedules); API is not guaranteed low-latency at 8:30:00 — verify before relying on it for event trading
Access methodREST API v2 (JSON, POST/GET); registered key free. Limits per BLS API FAQ: v2 = 500 queries/day, 50 series/query, 20 years/query; v1 (no key) = 25 queries/day, 25 series, 10 years; both throttled at 50 requests per 10 seconds
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11); registration free, renewed annually
Pricing pagehttps://www.bls.gov/developers/api_faqs.htm
Licensing / redistributionUS government work — public domain; cite BLS
Reliability caveatsLatest-value only (no vintages — use ALFRED); 2025 shutdown created permanent gaps (no October 2025 CPI, no October 2025 household survey); release dates occasionally rescheduled
Best forAuthoritative CPI/NFP/PPI values + the official release calendars for event timestamps

BEA API (GDP, PCE, corporate profits)

FieldValue
What it isBureau of Economic Analysis REST API over NIPA tables (GDP and components, PCE price index, personal income), international and regional accounts (user guide PDF)
CoverageGDP advance/second/third estimates and monthly Personal Income & Outlays (PCE deflator — the Fed's target measure), both first-tier events for ES/NQ and gold
GranularityMonthly/quarterly/annual table data
History depthNIPA tables back to 1929 (annual) / 1947 (quarterly) — verify per table
Latency / updatesReleases at 8:30 a.m. ET per the BEA release schedule (e.g. 2026-07-30 advance Q2 GDP + June personal income)
Access methodREST API (JSON/XML), free key by email signup
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://apps.bea.gov/api/signup/
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain; cite BEA
Reliability caveatsThrottling per user guide: 100 requests/min, 100 MB/min, 30 errors/min → violators blocked for a timeout period currently ~1 minute, dynamically adjustable (per user guide, verified 2026-07-11 — not 1 hour as sometimes reported); heavy revision cycle (advance→second→third→annual) makes vintages essential for backtests
Best forGDP/PCE levels and revision history; pairs with ALFRED for as-released values

Census Bureau Economic Indicators API (retail sales, durable goods)

FieldValue
What it isCensus Economic Indicators Time Series API — 16 monthly/quarterly indicator datasets at api.census.gov/data/timeseries/eits/
CoverageAdvance Monthly Retail Sales (MARTS), Monthly Retail Trade (MRTS), Advance Durable Goods (ADVM3), full M3, plus housing starts, construction spending, trade balance — the 8:30 a.m. prints that move ES and crude via the growth channel
GranularityMonthly series by category code (e.g. 44X72 retail & food services)
History depthVaries by survey; MARTS-type series ~1992+ (examples on the docs page show 2004+) — verify per dataset
Latency / updatesLoaded at/after official release; release dates on the Census economic indicators calendar
Access methodREST (JSON); API key required per docs ("All data queries to the Census Data API now require an API key"), free signup at key signup. Note: an unauthenticated probe of /data/timeseries/eits/marts returned HTTP 302 redirecting to a "Missing Key" page (empty body if redirects not followed) as of 2026-07-11 — key is mandatory
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/economic-indicators.html
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain; cite Census
Reliability caveatsEITS API syntax is idiosyncratic (cell_value/time_slot_id); Census has announced consolidations of retail programs in recent years — watch for series breaks; latest-value only (no vintages)
Best forRetail sales and durable-goods surprise inputs; free and official

Treasury FiscalData API (auction results, debt, TGA)

FieldValue
What it isTreasury's modern open-data platform fiscaldata.treasury.gov — REST APIs for auction results, debt to the penny, Treasury General Account cash balance, interest rates on the debt
CoverageRates/supply data relevant to the whole complex: auction results feed the "auction tail" signals that move bonds → equity indices and gold
GranularityPer-auction records; daily fiscal series
History depthAuctions Query endpoint returns records back to 1979-10-31 (earliest auction_date on a live probe as of 2026-07-11; ~11,000 records total) (/v1/accounting/od/auctions_query)
Latency / updatesDaily-updated datasets; auction results appear after each auction (verify same-day timing)
Access methodREST JSON, no API key required (probed live 2026-07-11); pagination/filter parameters
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/api-documentation/
Licensing / redistributionUS government open data; public domain
Reliability caveatsField names differ from TreasuryDirect's API for the same auctions (e.g. avg_med_discnt_rate vs averageMedianDiscountRate); some old records have null fields
Best forDeep historical auction database (bid-to-cover, high yield, dealer takedown) for supply-shock features

TreasuryDirect Securities API (upcoming auctions + results)

FieldValue
What it isTreasuryDirect's web APIs at www.treasurydirect.gov/TA_WS/ for announced/auctioned securities
CoverageAuction calendar (securities/upcoming) and results (securities/auctioned) for bills/notes/bonds/TIPS/FRNs — the schedule half of the auction-event trade
GranularityPer-security records incl. high rate, bid-to-cover components, allocation percentage
History depthRecent + queryable back years via type/days parameters (deep history better via FiscalData)
Latency / updatesupcoming shows announced auctions (live probe 2026-07-11 returned a 13-week bill auctioning 2026-07-13); results appear shortly after the ~1:00 p.m. ET auction close — exact publication latency Unknown — verify
Access methodREST JSON/XML, no key (probed live 2026-07-11)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.treasurydirect.gov/webapis/webapisecurities.htm
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain
Reliability caveatsLegacy API style; occasional maintenance windows; pair with the tentative auction schedule for quarter-ahead planning (the direct PDF URL that used to host the schedule 404'd on 2026-07-11 — locate current link via the quarterly refunding page)
Best forReal-time-ish auction calendar + results without scraping

US Treasury daily par yield curve

FieldValue
What it isTreasury's official daily par yield curve rates (CMT), downloadable CSV/XML per year
Coverage1M–30Y par yields — curve level/slope features for equity-index and gold models; note a new 1.5-month tenor column appears in 2026 files (seen live 2026-07-11)
GranularityDaily (one row per business day)
History depth1990 (daily yield curve) back-years selectable; longer via FRED H.15 mirrors
Latency / updatesPublished each business day, typically ~3:30–6:00 p.m. ET — verify exact time
Access methodCSV/XML download URLs (probed live 2026-07-11: .../daily-treasury-rates.csv/2026/all?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve... returned data through 07/10/2026); no key
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain
Reliability caveatsPar-yield methodology changes occasionally (tenor additions like 1.5M/4M create schema drift in CSV parsing); EOD only — intraday curve requires futures/cash vendors
Best forCanonical daily curve for slope/steepening features; schema-drift-aware parsing required

Federal Reserve Board — FOMC calendar, statements, minutes, SEP, speeches

FieldValue
What it isThe Fed's own FOMC calendars page: meeting dates, statements (HTML/PDF), implementation notes, minutes, SEP ("dot plot") materials; plus RSS feeds for press releases, speeches, and testimony
CoverageThe policy events themselves — 2026 meetings: Jan 27–28, Mar 17–18*, Apr 28–29, Jun 16–17*, Jul 28–29, Sep 15–16*, Oct 27–28, Dec 8–9* (*=SEP), per the calendars page (fetched 2026-07-11)
GranularityEvent documents; SEP quarterly; speeches ad hoc
History depthCalendars page carries 2021–2027; historical materials archive goes back decades (minutes ~5-year lag for transcripts)
Latency / updatesStatement at decision time (2:00 p.m. ET — verify); minutes "released three weeks after the date of the policy decision" (quoted from the calendars page); speeches posted at delivery
Access methodWeb pages, PDFs, RSS feeds (press releases, speeches by member, statistical releases)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain
Reliability caveatsNo structured API for statements/SEP — NLP pipelines must parse HTML/PDF; SEP dot-plot values published as figures + tables in the projections PDF
Best forGround truth for policy-event timestamps and text (statement-diff and speech-sentiment features)

Federal Reserve Data Download Program (DDP) — H.15, H.10 / dollar index

FieldValue
What it isThe Board's Data Download Program for statistical releases: H.15 Selected Interest Rates, H.10 FX rates, H.6 money stock, G.17 industrial production, G.19 consumer credit, Z.1 financial accounts
CoverageOfficial daily FX and rates; H.10 includes the Nominal Broad U.S. Dollar Index — the free alternative to licensed DXY (also on FRED as DTWEXBGS, daily values, Jan-2006=100, updated weekly)
GranularityDaily observations (H.15/H.10), released weekly; monthly for G-series
History depthH.15 series back to 1960s; DTWEXBGS from 2006
Latency / updatesH.10/DTWEXBGS: daily data published weekly (FRED page fetched 2026-07-11 showed last obs 2026-07-02, next update 2026-07-13) — not suitable for same-day dollar signals
Access methodDDP web download (CSV/XML), package builder; also mirrored in FRED API
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.federalreserve.gov/datadownload/
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain
Reliability caveatsWeekly publication lag on the dollar index is the key gotcha — for live DXY-style signals use ICE DX futures (commercial) or compute a basket from FX feeds
Best forFree historical dollar-index and official rates for research; not for intraday dollar triggers

NY Fed Markets Data API (SOFR, EFFR reference rates)

FieldValue
What it isThe New York Fed's markets data API serving reference rates (SOFR, EFFR, OBFR, TGCR/BGCR), repo/reverse-repo operation results, SOMA holdings
CoverageThe actual policy-rate fixings underlying ZQ/SR3 futures settlement — needed to interpret rate-expectation data
GranularityDaily fixings with percentile distributions and volumes (live probe 2026-07-11: SOFR 2026-07-09 = 3.53%, $3,126bn volume)
History depthSOFR from April 2018; EFFR from 2000s (verify per series)
Latency / updatesRates published each morning ~8:00 a.m. ET for prior business day — verify exact time
Access methodREST JSON/CSV/XML, no key (probed live 2026-07-11: /api/rates/secured/sofr/last/2.json)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://markets.newyorkfed.org/static/docs/markets-api.html
Licensing / redistributionPublic; NY Fed terms — verify redistribution language
Reliability caveatsOccasional restatements (revisionIndicator field exists for this reason)
Best forSettlement-grade SOFR/EFFR series for building rate-expectation features from SR3/ZQ prices

NY Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE)

FieldValue
What it isMonthly rotating-panel survey (~1,300 household heads) of consumer expectations — 1/3/5-year inflation expectations, job-loss probabilities, household finance
CoverageInflation-expectations input directly relevant to gold (1OZ/QO) and rates-sensitive equity trades
GranularityMonthly aggregates + full microdata files
History depthJune 2013 → present
Latency / updatesMonthly press release (~mid-month for prior month; June data released in July per site, fetched 2026-07-11); exact release time Unknown — verify
Access methodExcel chart-data downloads + microdata (2013–16, 2017–19, latest bundles) from the SCE page; interactive charts
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/sce
Licensing / redistributionFree public use with citation — verify exact terms
Reliability caveatsSurvey-based; small monthly sample; methodology tweaks over time
Best forHousehold inflation-expectations factor; slower-moving regime context rather than event trading

New York Fed Staff Nowcast

FieldValue
What it isThe NY Fed's dynamic-factor-model GDP nowcast, suspended Sept 2021 and reintroduced Sept 2023 with a new model
CoverageCurrent- and next-quarter real GDP growth (e.g. 2026:Q2 2.7%, Q3 2.5% per NY Fed Research on X)
GranularityWeekly point estimates + news decomposition
History depth2016–2021 archive plus 2023→present under the new model
Latency / updatesPublished each Friday
Access methodWeb page + downloadable XLSX
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.newyorkfed.org/research/policy/nowcast
Licensing / redistributionFree with citation — verify
Reliability caveatsModel discontinuity 2021–2023; weekly cadence means it can lag mid-week data shocks
Best forCross-checking GDPNow; "news" decomposition is a ready-made surprise measure per release

Atlanta Fed GDPNow

FieldValue
What it isAtlanta Fed's mechanical GDP nowcast for the current quarter (explainer)
CoverageReal GDP growth nowcast + subcomponent contributions — a growth-regime input for ES/NQ and crude
GranularityPoint estimate per update; sub-forecast detail in the companion Excel
History depthSince 2011; full run history in the Excel "TrackingHistory" tab; also on FRED as GDPNOW (with ALFRED vintages)
Latency / updatesUpdated ~6–7 times per month, tied to input releases (per explainer), until each BEA advance estimate
Access methodWeb page, Excel workbook download on the GDPNow page, FRED API series GDPNOW
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/gdpnow
Licensing / redistributionFree with citation — verify
Reliability caveatsPurely mechanical — famous head-fakes early in quarters (weak data density); update timestamps are irregular so event-align carefully
Best forGrowth-surprise features; via ALFRED you get point-in-time GDPNow readings for backtests

Atlanta Fed Market Probability Tracker

FieldValue
What it isAtlanta Fed tool estimating the probability distribution of future 3-month compounded SOFR from CME SOFR-futures options (guide)
CoverageFull option-implied rate distribution (not just meeting-by-meeting probabilities like FedWatch)
GranularityDaily estimated distributions
History depthUnknown — verify on page (chart history several years)
Latency / updatesUpdated daily using previous-day CME options data
Access methodWeb charts; a data-feed pod page exists — check for CSV/JSON download
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.atlantafed.org/cenfis/market-probability-tracker
Licensing / redistributionFree with citation — verify
Reliability caveatsOne-day lag; model-based extraction (fitting choices matter in tails)
Best forFree alternative/complement to FedWatch giving full distributions rather than discrete meeting outcomes

Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcasting

FieldValue
What it isDaily nowcasts of CPI, core CPI, PCE, core PCE (MoM, YoY, quarterly annualized)
CoverageThe best free real-time estimate of the upcoming CPI/PCE prints — directly usable to define "surprise" vs consensus for gold and index trades
GranularityDaily model updates for current and next month/quarter
History depthNowcast archive back years (page shows comparisons vs actuals) — exact start Unknown — verify
Latency / updates"Updated each business day" ~10:00 a.m. ET (page fetched 2026-07-11)
Access methodWeb page/interactive charts; bulk download availability Unknown — verify (no documented API)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.clevelandfed.org/indicators-and-data/inflation-nowcasting
Licensing / redistributionFree with citation — verify
Reliability caveatsModel-based (gasoline-price-heavy); no official API means scraping fragility
Best forPre-CPI positioning research; anchor for CPI-surprise definitions when you lack an Econoday consensus feed

Chicago Fed National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI)

FieldValue
What it isWeekly composite of 105 financial-conditions indicators (Chicago Fed); adjusted variant ANFCI
CoverageRisk-appetite/regime input for equity-index futures models
GranularityWeekly index values
History depth1971 → present (per FRED NFCI)
Latency / updatesWednesdays 8:30 a.m. ET, covering through prior Friday (Thursday when holidays interfere) — per Chicago Fed
Access methodChicago Fed downloads; FRED/ALFRED API (NFCI, ANFCI)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.chicagofed.org/research/data/nfci/current-data
Licensing / redistributionFree with citation
Reliability caveatsRevised each week as inputs update — use ALFRED vintages in backtests
Best forWeekly regime filter (risk-on/off) for position sizing

OFR Short-Term Funding Monitor API

FieldValue
What it isOffice of Financial Research API over repo-market and money-market series
CoverageRepo rates/volumes complementing NY Fed data — funding-stress features that lead risk-off moves in ES and gold
GranularityDaily series
History depthLive probe 2026-07-11 returned tri-party repo series from 2014-08-22
Latency / updatesDaily
Access methodREST JSON, no key (probed live 2026-07-11: data.financialresearch.gov/v1/series/timeseries?mnemonic=REPO-TRI_AR_OO-P)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.financialresearch.gov/short-term-funding-monitor/api/
Licensing / redistributionPublic domain
Reliability caveatsNiche mnemonics; documentation thinner than FRED
Best forFunding-stress dashboards (repo spikes → volatility regimes)

CME FedWatch tool (web) + ZQ/SR3 futures as rate-expectation data

FieldValue
What it isCME's free FedWatch tool converting 30-Day Fed Funds futures (ZQ) prices into FOMC-meeting rate-change probabilities; Three-Month SOFR futures (SR3) extend the curve ~10 years via 39 quarterly listings
CoverageMarket-implied Fed path — the conditioning variable for every macro-release reaction in our target markets
GranularityWeb tool: per-meeting probability table/charts; underlying futures: tick data via market-data vendors (see price-history category)
History depthWeb tool shows current snapshot; historical probabilities require the FedWatch API (commercial, below) which has history to 2015
Latency / updatesWeb tool refreshes intraday from futures prices (exact cadence Unknown — verify); free daily settlements published on CME product pages
Access methodFree web page + chart exports; programmatic = paid API
CostFree (web tool) (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html
Licensing / redistributionCME site terms — no scraping/redistribution
Reliability caveatsZQ-implied probabilities assume simple within-month rate paths; around unscheduled-cut speculation the methodology gets strained — cross-check with SR3 options (Atlanta Fed tracker)
Best forEyeballing/manually logging policy expectations; the free front-end to what ZQ/SR3 data gives you quantitatively

DBnomics

FieldValue
What it isOpen-source aggregator (db.nomics.world) of macro series from dozens of official providers, EU-funded/non-profit
CoverageMirrors many providers relevant here — BLS and BEA confirmed among its 93 providers as of 2026-07-11 (providers page); FRED is NOT a provider (listed only under "other resources"); strong for non-US macro too (ECB, Eurostat) if BZ/global context needed
GranularitySource-native (monthly/quarterly)
History depthSource-native
Latency / updatesCrawls providers on schedules; not guaranteed release-time fresh — verify per provider
Access methodWeb API, Python/R/Julia clients, no key
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://db.nomics.world/
Licensing / redistributionOpen data platform; per-provider licenses apply
Reliability caveatsCommunity infrastructure funded by sponsorship (site shows €100k of €200k annual goal raised, fetched 2026-07-11) — long-term SLA risk; crawl lag
Best forOne-API access to many providers during prototyping; backup mirror for FRED/BLS outages

University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers (public data portal)

FieldValue
What it isThe Surveys of Consumers data portal — sentiment index, expectations, and 1y/5-10y inflation-expectation series with demographic cuts
CoverageConsumer sentiment + inflation expectations (10:00 a.m. ET releases; prelim ~2nd Friday, final ~2 weeks later per FXStreet event page — verify against UMich)
GranularityMonthly (prelim + final); time-series download via portal "Time Series" tool
History depthHeadline sentiment to 1952 (quarterly) / 1978 (monthly) — verify on portal; also mirrored on FRED (UMCSENT)
Latency / updatesPublic tables/portal update at/after the 10:00 a.m. release; real-time/embargoed access is a paid sponsor product — the portal has a sponsor login; sponsor pricing not published (Contact sales)
Access methodWeb portal CSV downloads; FRED API for headline series; no official public API
CostFree after release; sponsor early access: Contact sales (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://data.sca.isr.umich.edu/
Licensing / redistributionPortal terms — verify before redistribution
Reliability caveats2024 methodology transition to web interviews created level shifts; prelim→final revisions can be large (~420 vs ~1,000 interviews per FXStreet)
Best forFree historical sentiment/inflation-expectation series; treat release timestamps via an econ calendar

Free web economic calendars (Investing.com, ForexFactory, FinancialJuice)

FieldValue
What it isRetail calendar/news sites: Investing.com economic calendar, ForexFactory calendar, FinancialJuice (free real-time headline squawk)
CoverageAll US releases relevant here with consensus, previous, actual; FinancialJuice adds free audio/text headline squawk around prints
GranularityEvent-level with timestamps and consensus estimates
History depthInvesting.com event pages keep multi-year actual/forecast history (e.g. ISM Manufacturing PMI page)
Latency / updatesNear-real-time actuals (seconds after release; not SLA'd)
Access methodWeb pages; no official APIs (scraping breaches ToS; unofficial scrapers exist but are fragile)
CostFree (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.investing.com/economic-calendar/
Licensing / redistributionConsensus numbers are the sites' licensed/derived content — do not redistribute; automated capture against ToS
Reliability caveatsConsensus values differ across sites (different survey panels); occasional wrong/late actuals; no vintage guarantee
Best forManual calendar awareness and cheap consensus history for research prototypes; replace with Econoday/TE API in production

Commercial sources

ISM PMI Reports (Institute for Supply Management)

FieldValue
What it isThe ISM Manufacturing and Services PMI reports (formerly Report On Business) — the 10:00 a.m. ET PMI prints that move ES/NQ and crude
CoverageManufacturing PMI (1st business day) and Services PMI (3rd business day) + sub-indices (prices paid, new orders, employment) — day-of-month claims verify via investing.com since ISM's own release calendar is login-gated
GranularityMonthly headline + sub-indices
History depthManufacturing series to 1948; historical data sold separately ("Purchase Historical PMI Data" links on report pages per search results)
Latency / updatesMonthly, 10:00 a.m. ET — verify
Access methodLogin-gated web reports: on 2026-07-11 the reports index, individual monthly report pages, and the release calendar all returned 302 redirects to ecommerce.ismworld.org/SSO/Login.aspx (observed directly this session — the "no longer freely browsable" gotcha is real); historical data via purchase; no public API
CostContact sales — account/membership required for reports; historical-data pricing not public (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/
Licensing / redistributionISM prohibits recreating/distributing report content without written authorization
Reliability caveatsFRED removed ISM series years ago for licensing reasons; third-party mirrors (TradingView ECONOMICS:USBCOI, Trading Economics, YCharts, MacroMicro) carry headline values but with their own licensing limits
Best forIf PMI sub-indices are needed as features, budget for ISM data purchase; otherwise capture headline surprises via a calendar API

S&P Global PMI (US flash + final)

FieldValue
What it isS&P Global US PMI — the flash PMI (released ~a week before month-end, the only early-month-read PMI) plus final manufacturing/services/composite
CoverageUS flash/final PMIs; press releases free (e.g. Flash US PMI release)
GranularityMonthly headline + sub-indices in press-release text/PDF
History depthFull history + sub-indices subscription-only: per licensed distributors, "full historic PMI headline data and all other PMI sub-index data and histories available on subscription from S&P Global" (Trading Economics PMI page)
Latency / updatesFlash ~9:45 a.m. ET — verify; final early month
Access methodFree press releases (PDF/HTML — note pmi.spglobal.com returned 403 to our fetcher on 2026-07-11, works in browsers); paid data feed via S&P Global Market Intelligence
CostPress releases free; dataset: Contact sales (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/
Licensing / redistributionS&P Global license; redistribution prohibited
Reliability caveatsHistorically diverges from ISM (different panels); headline-only free access forces PDF parsing
Best forFlash PMI surprise events (tradeable, pre-ISM); full-history purchase only if PMI factors prove alpha

CME FedWatch API

FieldValue
What it isProgrammatic FedWatch probabilities API (REST/JSON via dataservices.cmegroup.com)
CoverageFOMC meeting-by-meeting rate-move probabilities implied by ZQ futures
GranularityEnd-of-day snapshots; separate intraday product with 60-second updates
History depthBack to 2015 (stated on product page, fetched 2026-07-11)
Latency / updatesEOD daily; intraday tier 60-second
Access methodREST API, entitlement via CME Data Services portal; technical docs
Cost$25/month for End-of-Day (seen live on the product page 2026-07-11); intraday tier: Contact sales
Pricing pagehttps://www.cmegroup.com/market-data/market-data-api/fedwatch-api.html
Licensing / redistributionCME market-data license; display vs non-display use cases differ — verify at ordering
Reliability caveatsDerived data — inherits ZQ methodology assumptions; check revision policy for historical file
Best forCheap, clean historical Fed-path expectations without building your own ZQ bootstrapping — best value-for-money commercial item in this category

Econoday

FieldValue
What it isInstitutional-grade economic calendar and consensus provider (the calendar embedded in many broker platforms, incl. Interactive Brokers); API docs public
CoverageUS + global releases with consensus ranges, actuals, revisions — the professional way to timestamp every event in this category
GranularityEvent-level; real-time actual updates
History depthMulti-decade event/consensus archive — verify depth with sales
Latency / updatesReal-time event sync
Access methodREST API (enterprise), web calendar subscriptions (retail)
CostEnterprise API: Contact sales. Retail shop items seen live 2026-07-11: 2026 Agricultural Economic Calendar $14.95, 2025 Econoday Economic Journal $35.00 (listed but sold out as of 2026-07-11) (shop); online calendar subscription price not displayed (demo-gated)
Pricing pagehttps://shop.econoday.com/collections/all
Licensing / redistributionCommercial license; consensus data not redistributable
Reliability caveatsEnterprise pricing opaque; retail tier lacks API
Best forProduction-grade calendar + consensus if the project graduates from scraped calendars

Trading Economics API

FieldValue
What it isTrading Economics — calendar with consensus + 20M-indicator historical database + markets data, REST/streaming
CoverageFull US macro calendar incl. licensed display of ISM/S&P PMI headline history; economic surprise-style aggregates
GranularityEvent-level calendar; monthly/quarterly indicators
History depthDecades for indicators (per site marketing)
Latency / updatesCalendar actuals updated in real time; streaming API on higher tiers
Access methodREST API + client libraries (docs); free trial limited to "100000 data points and 100 requests" (seen on pricing page 2026-07-11)
CostContact sales — plan prices are JS-rendered and were not visible to our fetcher; unofficial reported pricing: Standard $149/mo and Professional $299/mo billed yearly (per FXMacroData comparison, June 2026 — unofficial)
Pricing pagehttps://tradingeconomics.com/api/pricing.aspx
Licensing / redistributionCommercial; ISM/PMI values displayed under license — cannot be re-redistributed
Reliability caveatsAggregator — occasional mapping errors on obscure series; consensus panel smaller than Econoday's
Best forOne-stop calendar + indicator API at mid-market price; the pragmatic Econoday alternative

Haver Analytics

FieldValue
What it isInstitutional macro-database vendor (haver.com) — "290+ time-series databases" from 2,500+ sources, delivered "within approximately one minute of release" (site, fetched 2026-07-11)
CoverageEverything in this category incl. licensed content (ISM, Conference Board, UMich) in one schema (USECON et al.)
GranularitySeries-level, source-native
History depthFull source histories, professionally curated
Latency / updates~1 minute post-release
Access methodDLX desktop, HaverView web, direct feeds, REST API
CostContact sales (no public pricing; institutional — unofficial reputation is five figures/yr, unofficial) (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.haver.com/
Licensing / redistributionInstitutional license; third-party content (ISM etc.) needs pass-through entitlements
Reliability caveatsOverkill unless the project institutionalizes
Best forBenchmark of what "complete" looks like; only if budget is institutional

Macrobond

FieldValue
What it isInstitutional macro data + analytics platform (macrobond.com) comparable to Haver, with API/Excel integration
CoverageGlobal macro incl. licensed US survey content
GranularitySeries-level
History depthFull source histories
Latency / updatesNear-release-time
Access methodDesktop app, Excel add-in, web API
CostContact sales (pricing page not public — a /pricing URL returned 404 on 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://www.macrobond.com/
Licensing / redistributionInstitutional license, per-seat
Reliability caveatsSame as Haver — institutional procurement cycle
Best forAlternative to Haver in institutional RFPs; not for this project's likely budget

Citi Economic Surprise Index (CESI)

FieldValue
What it isCitigroup's proprietary index of data surprises vs consensus — the classic "macro momentum" regime indicator
CoverageUS (and global variants); directly relevant regime input for index futures
GranularityDaily
History depthSince 2003 (per third-party descriptions — verify)
Latency / updatesDaily
Access methodLicensed via Bloomberg terminal or Citi Velocity (institutional clients); free views (not data): Yardeni charts (verified live 2026-07-11), MacroMicro chart (unverified — 403 to automated fetchers), Cbonds index page + Excel add-in (unverified — 403 to automated fetchers)
CostContact sales (Bloomberg terminal ~$24k/yr context per search results — unofficial); no standalone retail product (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://cbonds.com/indexes/99130/
Licensing / redistributionCiti proprietary; chart mirrors cannot be redistributed as data
Reliability caveatsMethodology opaque; better DIY route: build your own surprise index from a calendar API's consensus-vs-actual history (Econoday/Trading Economics), which you then own outright
Best forConcept validation via free charts; replicate in-house rather than license

Conference Board (Consumer Confidence, LEI)

FieldValue
What it isConsumer Confidence Index and Leading Economic Index; full data via Data Central
CoverageCCI (83 series incl. expectations, buying plans, inflation expectations) + LEI — 10:00 a.m. ET releases that move ES/NQ
GranularityMonthly
History depthCCI to 1967 — verify; full history members-only
Latency / updatesMonthly; CCI typically last Tuesday 10:00 a.m. ET — verify
Access methodFree: press releases/summary pages on conference-board.org; Full data: Data Central portal (membership)
CostContact sales — membership required; no public pricing (as of 2026-07-11)
Pricing pagehttps://data-central.conference-board.org/
Licensing / redistributionMembers-only license; press-release headline numbers quotable with attribution
Reliability caveatsSurvey redesigns (2023 update to online panel) create breaks (update note)
Best forHeadline surprise capture from free press releases; paid tier only if expectations sub-indices become features

MacroMicro

FieldValue
What it isChart/data platform (en.macromicro.me) aggregating macro series incl. licensed displays of ISM, Citi surprise, GDPNow etc.
CoverageWide US macro chart library; useful mirrors of paywalled series for eyeballing
GranularitySource-native (monthly/weekly/daily)
History depthSource-native
Latency / updatesNear-release
Access methodWeb charts; CSV export and API on paid tiers (enterprise/API plans)
CostMM Prime reported ~$25–30/month (unofficial, unverified — official pricing/support pages returned 403 to automated fetchers on 2026-07-11; FindMyMoat review lists MM Prime $25/mo and MM Max $28/mo; thetoolsverse reported ~$30/mo)
Pricing pagehttps://en.macromicro.me/subscribe
Licensing / redistributionDisplay license only; underlying third-party series (ISM, Citi) not redistributable
Reliability caveatsAggregator lag/mapping risk; not a primary source
Best forCheap visual monitoring of otherwise-paywalled indicators

EODHD (Economic Events API)

FieldValue
What it isEODHD market-data vendor whose Economic Events API provides a machine-readable macro calendar with actual/previous/estimate fields
CoverageUS + global economic events; no consensus-quality guarantees vs Econoday
GranularityEvent-level
History depthSeveral years of past events — verify depth
Latency / updatesNear-real-time actuals — verify SLA
Access methodREST JSON
CostEconomic Events included only in ALL-IN-ONE $99.99/month; other tiers seen live 2026-07-11: Free $0, EOD All World $19.99/mo, EOD+Intraday $29.99/mo, Fundamentals $59.99/mo (pricing)
Pricing pagehttps://eodhd.com/pricing
Licensing / redistributionPersonal/commercial API license tiers; no redistribution
Reliability caveatsCalendar is a side product for this vendor — consensus sourcing opaque
Best forBundling an econ calendar with price data if already an EODHD customer

Alpha Vantage (economic indicators endpoints)

FieldValue
What it isFreemium market-data API whose documentation includes US economic-indicator endpoints — REAL_GDP, TREASURY_YIELD, FEDERAL_FUNDS_RATE, CPI, INFLATION, RETAIL_SALES, DURABLES, UNEMPLOYMENT, NONFARM_PAYROLL (endpoint names confirmed present in the live docs HTML, 2026-07-11)
CoverageHeadline US macro series (sourced from FRED — verify), plus FX for dollar proxies
GranularityMonthly/quarterly/daily per endpoint
History depthSource-native (decades for CPI/GDP)
Latency / updatesPost-release refresh; not release-time
Access methodREST JSON, free API key
CostFree tier 25 requests/day; premium from $49.99/mo (75 req/min) to $249.99/mo (1200 req/min) — seen live on premium page 2026-07-11
Pricing pagehttps://www.alphavantage.co/premium/
Licensing / redistributionAPI terms; no redistribution
Reliability caveatsThin wrapper over public data — prefer FRED directly unless already using AV for prices; 25/day free limit is tight
Best forConvenience if AV is already in the stack; otherwise redundant with FRED

ICE U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) data

FieldValue
What it isThe trademarked ICE U.S. Dollar Index (USDX/DX futures on ICE Futures U.S.) — the "DXY" quoted everywhere
CoverageDollar factor for gold/silver (inverse) and crude; DX futures + the cash index
GranularityTick/intraday via ICE market data or vendors (e.g. Barchart; whether Databento carries ICE Futures U.S. is Unknown — verify vendor coverage); daily via many terminals
History depthIndex since 1985 (futures since 1985) — verify
Latency / updatesReal-time (licensed) or delayed
Access methodICE market-data feeds (exchange fees) or redistributors; not on CME feeds — it is an ICE product, so it sits outside the project's CME-centric data plumbing
CostContact sales — ICE Futures U.S. market-data fees apply (as of 2026-07-11); free daily proxy: FRED DTWEXBGS (weekly-published)
Pricing pagehttps://www.ice.com/products/194/US-Dollar-Index-Futures
Licensing / redistributionICE data license + index trademark restrictions
Reliability caveatsDXY's fixed 6-currency 1973 basket (57.6% EUR) is stale vs trade patterns — Fed broad index is economically better, DXY is what markets watch
Best forIf a live dollar factor is needed, source DX quotes through an existing multi-exchange vendor rather than licensing ICE directly; else use Fed H.10 weekly

Summary table

SourceFree tier?Entry costBest for
FRED APIYes (full)FreeCore macro series store
ALFREDYes (full)FreeVintage data, look-ahead-bias-free backtests
BLS APIYes (full)FreeCPI/NFP/PPI official values + calendars
BEA APIYes (full)FreeGDP/PCE
Census EITS APIYes (full)FreeRetail sales, durable goods
Treasury FiscalDataYes (full)FreeAuction history to 1979
TreasuryDirect APIYes (full)FreeAuction calendar + results
Treasury yield curve CSVYes (full)FreeDaily par curve
Fed Board FOMC/speechesYes (full)FreePolicy events + text
Fed DDP (H.15/H.10)Yes (full)FreeOfficial rates, broad dollar index
NY Fed Markets APIYes (full)FreeSOFR/EFFR fixings
NY Fed SCEYes (full)FreeInflation expectations
NY Fed Staff NowcastYes (full)FreeWeekly GDP nowcast + news decomposition
Atlanta Fed GDPNowYes (full)FreeGrowth nowcast (vintages via ALFRED)
Atlanta Fed Market Probability TrackerYes (full)FreeOption-implied rate distributions
Cleveland Fed inflation nowcastYes (full)FreeDaily CPI/PCE nowcasts
Chicago Fed NFCIYes (full)FreeWeekly financial-conditions regime
OFR STFM APIYes (full)FreeRepo/funding stress
CME FedWatch (web)YesFreeEyeball Fed-path probabilities
DBnomicsYes (full)FreeMulti-provider mirror
UMich Surveys of ConsumersYes (post-release)Sponsor: contact salesSentiment + inflation expectations
Retail calendars (Investing.com etc.)YesFreeConsensus for prototyping
ISM PMI ReportsNo (login-gated)Contact salesPMI sub-indices (if budgeted)
S&P Global PMIPress releases onlyContact salesFlash PMI events
CME FedWatch APINo$25/mo EOD (as of 2026-07-11)Historical Fed-path probabilities to 2015
EconodayFree web calendarRetail items $14.95–$35; API contact salesProduction calendar + consensus
Trading Economics APITrial onlyContact sales (unofficial ~$149/mo)Calendar + 20M indicators, one API
Haver AnalyticsNoContact salesInstitutional one-stop macro
MacrobondNoContact salesInstitutional alternative to Haver
Citi Surprise IndexChart views onlyContact sales (Bloomberg/Velocity)Regime concept; replicate in-house
Conference BoardPress releases onlyContact salesCCI/LEI sub-indices
MacroMicroLimited free charts~$25–30/mo (unofficial, unverified)Cheap visual monitoring
EODHDNo (for calendar)$99.99/mo ALL-IN-ONE (as of 2026-07-11)Bundled calendar + price data
Alpha Vantage25 req/day$49.99/mo+ (as of 2026-07-11)Convenience wrapper over public macro
ICE DXY dataNoContact sales (ICE fees)Live dollar index factor