The Retail Prices Index (RPI)

The RPI is the UK’s principal measure of consumer price inflation.
It is defined as an average measure of change in the prices of goods and services brought for the purpose of consumption by the vast majority of households in the UK. It is complied and published monthly. Once published, it is never revised. RPI includes date on food and drink, tobacco, housing, household goods and services, personal goods and services, transport fares, motoring costs, clothing and leisure goods and services.

Measures of inflation are vital tools for economists, business and government. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee sets
UK interest rates on the basis of a target figure for inflation set by Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Wage agreements, pensions and change in benefit levels are often linked directly to the RPI. Utility regulators impose restrictions on price movements based on the RPI.

The Trade Balance

The balance of trade is a statement of a country’s trade in goods (merchandise) and services. It covers trade in products such as manufactured goods, raw materials and agricultural goods, as well as travel and transportation. The balance of trade is the difference between the values of the goods and services that a country exports and the value of the goods and services that it imports. If a country’s exports exceed its imports, it has a trade surplus and the trade balance is said to be positive.

If imports exceed exports, the country has a trade deficit and its trade balance is said to be negative.
The balance of trade sometimes refers to trade in goods only. The term should not be confused with the balance of payments, which is a much broader statement of international monetary flows, including not only trade in goods and services, but also investment income flows and transfer payments. A positive or negative balance may simply reflect a change in the relative cost of domestic products compared with international prices.

The Unemployment Rate

Percentage of employable people actively seeking work, out of the total number of employable people determined in a monthly survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

An unemployment rate of about 4% - 6% is considered “healthy”. Lower rates are seen as inflationary due to the upward pressure on salaries; higher rates threaten a decrease in consumer spending.

Technical analysis

The building blocks of any technical analysis system include price charts, volume charts, and a host of other mathematical representations of market patterns and behaviors. Most often called studies, these mathematical manipulations of various types of market data are used to determine the strength and sustainability of a particular trend. So, rather than simply relying on price charts to forecast future market values, technicians will also use a variety of other technical tools before entering a trade.

As in all other aspects of trading, be much disciplined when using technical analysis. Too often, a trader will fail to sell or buy into a market even after it has reached a price that his or her technical studies identified as an entry or exit point. This is because it is hard to screen out the fundamental realities that led to the price movement in the first place.

As an example, let's assume you are long USD vs. euro and have established your stop/loss 30 pips away from your entry point. However, if some unforeseen factor is responsible for pushing the USD through your stop/loss level you might be inclined to hold this position just a bit longer in the hopes that it turns back into a winner.