Courses
GDBU1025 Economic Indicators and the Business World (3 units)
- Medium of Instruction:
- English
Knowledge of economic conditions is fully reflected by economic indicators which closely tie with interest rates, inflation, corporate earnings and even overall standard of living. Monitoring economic indicators allows managers to make decisions with confidence on whether to buy more equipment, increase investment, or hire more workers. In a global environment, international economic indicators are of particular importance because they facilitate businessmen to explore overseas markets. This course enables students with little or no knowledge about key economic numbers to understand what these numbers tell us about the economy and how we can use them to make better investment and business decisions. To meet this goal, the course aims at answering the following questions: (1) Why are the economic indicators important to know? (2) How are the economic indicators computed? (3) What do the economic indicators have to say about the future? (4) How might various market sectors, such as bond markets, stock markets and the foreign exchange markets react to these economic indicators?
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to recognize the importance of the economic indicators, and their corresponding components. By understanding the underlying methodology of how they are calculated, students should be able to appreciate the usefulness of these indicators and their shortcomings. Particular emphasis is placed on highlighting the most interesting and useful data points in the economic release. Guidance is given on how to locate valuable information that may offer students a heads-up on how the economy might perform in the months ahead.