Bureau of Economic Analysis

What is the BEA?: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is the research arm of the Department of Commerce, and provides some of the most closely watched economic indicators of the U.S. economy.

What BEA Does: The BEA analyzes data and releases reports on some of the most important economic indicators. This data includes the GDP growth rate, personal income and expenditures, international trade balance and the current account deficit.

How the BEA Affects the Economy: The BEA reports influence virtually all financial and business decisions. For example, when the BEA reports that GDP did not rise as high as expected, the stock market drops and businesses may not invest in new capital, anticipating a recession.

How the BEA Affects You: By signing up for the BEA email newsletter, you get the indicators you need to understand the U.S. economy. While these reports are in fact covered by the media, they can be somewhat dramatized to “make it interesting”. By both viewing the media coverage and reading the reports yourself you can separate the true information from the drama.

Reading these reports is one of the legitimate ways to “get a jump on Wall Street”.