The methodology behind the Atlanta Fed / Chicago Booth / Stanford Survey of Business Uncertainty (SBU) was revised by the source in August 2020: Changes were made to the panel design, the survey questions asked, and the series produced. Because of these changes, FRED has discontinued the existing indices and added four new smoothed indices of business uncertainty and expectations.
See the SBU’s revised methodology for more details on changes to the survey and the series.
This assignment provides instructions on building the graph below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.
This assignment provides instructions on creating the map below and suggests prompts for in-class discussion. See how you do on our sample discussion question below.
Click on the map above to view an interactive version
Question: Households have many ways of holding wealth, including by owning a home. In which state is the homeownership rate the highest?
In the second quarter of 2020, the value of gross domestic product decreased. Read on for more details and a list of resources to become a better FREDcast forecaster.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, “Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020.”
“The decline in second quarter GDP reflected the response to COVID-19, as ‘stay-at-home’ orders issued in March and April were partially lifted in some areas of the country in May and June, and government pandemic assistance payments were distributed to households and businesses.”
Q1. Between 1980 and 2019, which of the past five recessions had the largest negative impact on U.S. wealth?
Q2. List the dates of three recessions between 1980 and 2019 when all-sectors U.S. wealth did not decrease.
Q1. As of the first quarter of 2020, which population group holds the most wealth in financial assets?
Q2. As of the first quarter of 2020, which population group holds the least wealth in financial assets?
Q1. As of the first quarter of 2020, which population group holds the most wealth in consumer durables?
Q2. As of the first quarter of 2020, which population group holds the least wealth in consumer durables?
Now that you’ve aced this quiz, give it to your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.
FRED will no longer update weekly or monthly Treasury inflation-indexed securities data. Instead, these series will be replaced with their equivalent daily series. This change affects 11 weekly and 5 monthly series, listed in the table below.
If you want the daily data at a lower frequency (say, monthly), you can edit the graph: Select the desired frequency and choose “average” as the aggregation method. See our guide for more details.
Affected Weekly Series
| Series | Discontinued Series ID | Daily Series ID Replacement |
| 20-Year 2-3/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 1/15/2025 | WTP20J25 | DTP20J25 |
| 20-Year 2% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 1/15/2026 | WTP20J26 | DTP20J26 |
| 30-Year 3-5/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 4/15/2028 | WTP30A28 | DTP30A28 |
| 30-Year 3-7/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 4/15/2029 | WTP30A29 | DTP30A29 |
| 30-Year 2-1/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 2/15/2040 | WTP30F40 | DTP30F40 |
| 20-Year 1-3/4% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 1/15/2028 | WTP20J28 | DTP20J28 |
| 10-Year 1-1/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Note, Due 1/15/2021 | WTP10J21 | DTP10J21 |
| 20-Year 2-3/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 1/15/2027 | WTP20J27 | DTP20J27 |
| 20-Year 2-1/2% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 1/15/2029 | WTP20J29 | DTP20J29 |
| 30-Year 2-1/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 2/15/2041 | WTP30F41 | DTP30F41 |
| 30-1/2-Year 3-3/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 4/15/2032 | WTP3HA32 | DTP3HA32 |
Affected Monthly Series
| Series | Discontinued Series ID | Daily Series ID Replacement |
| 30-Year 3-7/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 4/15/2029 | TP30A29 | DTP30A29 |
| 30-Year 2-1/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 2/15/2041 | TP30F41 | DTP30F41 |
| 30-1/2-Year 3-3/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 4/15/2032 | TP3HA32 | DTP3HA32 |
| 30-Year 3-5/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond, Due 4/15/2028 | TP30A28 | DTP30A28 |
| 10-Year 1-1/8% Treasury Inflation-Indexed Note, Due 1/15/2021 | TP10J21 | DTP10J21 |
In this newsletter, we use a graph to show recent changes in retail sales, map a frequency analysis of the word “pandemic” over time, share some tips for playing FREDcast, and quiz you on economic data related to the pandemic.
This assignment provides instructions on building the graph below and includes writing prompts for out-of-class assignments.
This assignment provides instructions on creating the maps below and suggests prompts for in-class discussion. See how you do on our sample discussion questions below.
The discussion about pandemics (DAP) index measures how often the word “pandemic” appears in economic intelligence reports. Learn more here.
Click on the map above to view an interactive version
Question: Name four nations where the discussion about pandemics (DAP) index was larger than zero during the fourth quarter of 2019.
Again, click on the map above to view an interactive version
Question: Compare this map with the map above. How are they different? Name four nations where the discussion about pandemics (DAP) index was less than or equal to zero during the first quarter of 2020.
The pandemic has impacted employment. In April 2020, the total number of workers on payrolls decreased. Read on for more details and a list of resources to become a better FREDcast forecaster.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 20.5 million in April (2020).”
“Employment fell sharply in all major industry sectors, with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality.”
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_05082020.htm
Q1. As of February 2020, which were the three largest categories of non-food retail sales?
Q2. As of February 2020, what percentage of non-food retail sales did clothing and clothing accessory stores represent?
Q1. As of April 2020, which were the three largest categories of non-food retail sales?
Q2. As of April 2020, what percentage of non-food retail sales did clothing and clothing accessory stores represent?
Q1. Can you name a state where the employment in leisure and hospitality activities increased between May 2019 and May 2020?
Q2. Name the states where employment in leisure and hospitality activities decreased the most and the least between May 2019 and May 2020.
Now that you’ve aced this quiz, give it to your students using this dashboard. To customize this dashboard, just click the “Save to My Account” button at the top of the dashboard.
FRED has added 17 new series from the Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices (OBMMI). Calculated from actual locked rates with consumers across more than one-third of all mortgage transactions closed nationwide, OBMMI provides multiple mortgage pricing indices developed around the most popular mortgage products and specific borrower attributes.
Explore the data in FRED here.
The daily federal funds rate release provides four new daily series found in A New Daily Federal Funds Rate Series and History of the Federal Funds Market, 1928-1954. Economists Sriya Anbil, Mark A. Carlson, Christopher Hanes, and David C. Wheelock digitized federal funds rate data to enhance the ability of researchers to study an eventful period in U.S. financial history and to better understand how monetary policy was transmitted to banking and financial markets.
These series are:
FRED has added 28 new series from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Manufactured Housing Survey. The survey provides data on shipments, prices, and characteristics of manufactured housing across the U.S. and in Census Regions.
To help place FRED in the center of your data world, the FRED Team has launched a new map feature for data series with geographic characteristics. Simply click the green VIEW MAP button on the upper right side of the graph to see the big picture.
These interactive maps have zooming, mouse-over, and full screen functions. They provide a cross-sectional perspective, rather than just a time-series form, that lets you compare regions. Reach all the advanced mapping features from the EDIT MAP button.
The EDIT MAP button takes you to our existing GeoFRED site with established tools, such as downloading data, modifying map colors, and creating custom legends.
Explore FRED’s 9 types of maps…
As of this week, FRED will update the State Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration on Fridays at 8:30 am Eastern Time, instead of Thursdays. This change will make the update process more reliable by including the finalized reports of state claims, in addition to providing one additional week of data.
To facilitate this change, the state-level weekly claims data have been moved to their own release. There will be no changes made to the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims release; the data will continue to update on Thursdays at 8:30 am Eastern Time, as soon as the news release is available from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
FRED has added 132 new series and updated the release tables for the Board of Governors’ Factors Affecting Reserve Balances (H.4.1). The updates include the following additions: the Primary Dealer Credit and Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity facilities, the temporary repurchase agreement facility for foreign and international monetary authorities (FIMA Repo Facility), the Commercial Paper Funding Facility II LLC, the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility, the Corporate Credit Facility LLC, and the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility. The Board provides more details here.
