How to read an economic calendar

An economic calendar is a table of scheduled events: data releases (economic indicators) and central bank decisions. Providers list the same official events; the impact ratings and consensus figures are their own. This guide applies to any calendar, in your platform or a public one.

• Date and time: in the calendar's time zone (see below).
• Currency or country: the economy the figure describes, often a flag or a code such as USD.
• Event: the release's name, usually with its period, for example "CPI (Sep)".
• Impact: the provider's low, medium or high rating.
• Actual, consensus and previous: the row's three figures.

These are the glossary's actual, consensus and previous: consensus is the median or average of economists' estimates collected before the release, previous the figure for the period before, actual the published figure. Calendars label the consensus column Consensus, Expected or Forecast; this guide says consensus.

Actual minus consensus is what commentators call a surprise. Units differ by release (a percentage change on the month or year, thousands of jobs, index points, a rate level), so read the unit before comparing.

Previous is often revised when the new figure comes out; calendars show the revised value, sometimes with a mark, which changes what the new figure is compared with.

Calendars mark each event low, medium or high impact with colours, bars or icons; red usually means high. The rating is the provider's estimate of how active markets may be around the event, judged by the attention it gets, not a statement about the direction of prices; two calendars can rate the same event differently.

High-impact events are where volatility and the spread change most often; they can coincide with higher volatility and wider spreads.

In Latin America the calendar is dominated by US data and central bank decisions, since the US dollar is one side of EUR/USD and USD/MXN; an interest rate decision is usually rated high impact.

• NFP: the monthly change in US paid jobs outside farming, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) with the unemployment rate.
• CPI: consumer price inflation; the BLS in the United States, INEGI in Mexico (the INPC).
• GDP: total output, usually quarterly, as a first estimate then revisions.
• PMI: a monthly survey of purchasing managers; above 50 means activity grew according to the survey.
• Federal Reserve (FOMC), ECB and Banxico rate decisions: meeting dates are published in advance; the decision and the press conference or statement are separate rows.

Commentators call a statement hawkish or dovish: labels for its tone, not instructions.

Every calendar shows times in one zone; check which before reading a time. Publishers announce times in their local time; the first table converts four to UTC. US Eastern Time is UTC−4 around July and UTC−5 around January, Frankfurt UTC+2 and UTC+1, Mexico City UTC−6 all year; the forex market hours guide lists the daylight saving dates.

Publication times in UTC

Around July

Around January

Santiago uses UTC−4 around July, one hour later than Bogotá and Lima (NFP at 08:30, FOMC at 14:00, ECB at 08:15, Banxico at 15:00), and UTC−3 around January, the same as Buenos Aires.

US and European clocks change on different dates: from the second Sunday of March to the last Sunday of March, and from the last Sunday of October to the first Sunday of November, a release can be an hour off these tables; your calendar's own time is what counts. Agencies reschedule releases and central banks can act between meetings; times are as of 29 October 2026.

Around a high-impact release, liquidity can thin and spreads widen; a price can jump from one quote to the next (a gap) and orders fill at the next available price (slippage). A stop loss inside a gap fills at the next price, which can be worse than your level; a take profit can also fill at a different price. Margin requirements can also change.

Keeping positions open through a release, closing them first or only reading the calendar is your decision; this guide describes no tactic for those minutes. A demo account lets you watch a release without money at stake.

1. Set the time zone to your city and check today's date.
2. Filter by the currencies you trade: USD and MXN for USD/MXN, USD and EUR for EUR/USD.
3. Note the week's high-impact rows and their times; many fall in the London–New York overlap of the trading sessions in the hours guide.
4. Before each release, read the consensus and previous figures and their unit.
5. At release time, compare actual with consensus and check whether previous was revised.
6. If a figure looks odd, open the publisher's page: calendars can show stale or mistyped values.

Times checked against the publishers' own schedules on 29 October 2026; not NextTrade's data, and they can change. The publishers' pages are the reference:

• US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employment Situation and CPI schedules — bls.gov/schedule — as of 29 October 2026
• Federal Reserve — FOMC calendars; statement of 16 September 2026 — federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm — as of 29 October 2026
• European Central Bank — meeting calendar; press release of 27 June 2022 on decision times — ecb.europa.eu/press/calendars — as of 29 October 2026
• Banco de México — Calendario para los anuncios de las decisiones de política monetaria 2026 — banxico.org.mx — as of 29 October 2026