This paper evaluates the impact of new releases of financial, real activity and survey data on nowcasting euro area gross domestic product (GDP). We show that all three data categories positively impact on the accuracy of GDP nowcasts, whereby the effect is largest in the case of real activity data. When treating variables as if they were all published at the same time and without any time lag, financial series lose all their significance, while survey data remain an important ingredient for the nowcasting exercise. The subsequent analysis shows that the sectoral coverage of survey data, which is broader than that of timely available real activity data, as well as their information content stemming from questions focusing on agents' expectations, are the main sources of the 'genuine' predictive power of survey data. When the forecast period is restricted to the 2008-09 financial crisis, the main change is an enhanced forecasting role for financial data.
This study examines the contribution of several survey indicators published by the European Commission to forecasting overall economic activity in the euro area. It entails a quantitative evaluation of the information content of seven composite indicators with regard to GDP growth. A preliminary analysis looks at the stationarity and correlation properties of the variables. Based on bivariate VAR-models and the notion of forecast improvement, the methodological approach is two-fold: In a first step, the focussed relations are studied from an ex post perspective. Employing standard and individual Granger-causality tests, an initial assessment of the mean predictive content of the indicators is provided.Business Cycle, Confidence Indicators, Forecasting, Forecast Evaluation
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