Investment Basics

There are many different yet important economic statistic that investors should be extremely interested in following, particularly during periods where market recovery is tentative at best. Two of those most-valuable and essential economic stats are the unemployment rate and housing starts statistics. Here is why each of them are important right about now.

1. Unemployment Rate. One of the biggest things that will keep the economy from recovery is unemployment. Although most investors feel that without a healthy unemployment figure, consumer spending will remain low (they are right about that), unemployment is also an important indicator of business spending which often an even bigger signal of a recovering economy. As unemployment starts to decrease from its current sub-10% levels, investors can expect increased business spending (which we have already seen in many cases, such as in the case of healthy acquisitions activity, stock repurchase plans and increased dividends) as well as improved consumer spending (a given) and consumer sentiment (whether one works for an employer or is self-employed, sentiment tends to improve when unemployment figures are dropping).

Overall, the unemployment rate tells us more than just how many people are out of work. It is a good indicator of spending from a consumer and business standpoint. That "spending" can be seen in many different areas, including the market itself, which ends up pushing up equity prices in the long-term.

2. Housing Starts. Although housing starts are typically slow to show signs of recovery after a financial-based recession, it does not meant that housing starts are not important. To the contrary, improving housing starts are a good indication of the overall economy because it tells investors a couple of things. The first is that the home-buyer is willing to borrow money from a financial institution (which means there is more money and faith flowing into the same system that often cause the financial-based recession). The second is that these homebuilders will be spending money on upgrading equipment and on building materials. Again, the flow of money that comes as a result of housing starts is fairly powerful.

In summary, while housing starts tell us that buyers are looking to start spending money on a big-ticket items again, it also provides an indication into what the future holds for financial institutions as well as building materials.

These two areas -- unemployment and housing starts -- have been seen as instrumental indicators into the future of the domestic economy and markets. There has been a lot of anticipation for these two areas to show some positive and sustainable signs of recovery as well, but investors need to realize that this will be a slow and gradual process. Investors willing to the take the risk will consider other important data and see that the trend, however slow and gradual as it may be, is headed in the right direction.

Chris has more than 17 years of financial services experience. He currently operates a website about GeForce GTX Graphics Cards at EVGAGeForce.com. So if you are looking for the most impressive graphics card on the market, consider the GeForce GTX 580.