Investors are deluged daily with data about the economy. Invariably, the data does not emit consistent clues about the direction of the economy. It is important to remember that some data is classified as leading economic indicators that tend to move before changes in the overall economy (akin to a driver looking out front through the windshield). Other data is classified as coincident indicators, and the last group is classified as lagging indicators that tend to move after changes in the overall economy, (akin to a driver looking in the rearview mirror).
