Seize economic data in just one click

We understand that intrinsic value of stock largely depends on the nature of business itself which, defined by Warren Buffet, includes four key aspects – business, management, financial and value. We also know that macro economic conditions can have significant impact on the value of stock, for example, current eurozone crisis might have drastically changed the dynamics of many business. Therefore, to clearly understand where we are currently in the economic cycle, not to predict where the macro economic condition will be, is crutial for our investment strategy.

In order to obtain and study economic data, I normally go to various web sites (like bloomberg) or blogs (like http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/). However, recently I have found a remarkable tool which can allow us to grab the official macro data by just one click!!!

This tool is called Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Data (FRED) Add-In for Microsoft Excel. This tool is a free software that
will significantly reduce the amount of time spent collecting and organizing macroeconomic data. It can be downloaded here. It provides free access to over 30,000 data series from various sources (e.g., BEA, BLS, Census, and OECD) directly through Microsoft Excel.

Here are its key features

         One-click instant download of economic time series.

         Browse the most popular data and search the FRED database.

         Quick and easy data frequency conversion and growth rate calculations.

         Instantly refresh and update spreadsheets with newly released data.

         Create graphs with NBER recession shading and an auto update feature.

And here is a youtube demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAH-wGtP_k8&feature=player_embedded

Please enjoy the advantage of technology!!