Sources and habits

Educational only. This page points you toward primary public data sources and calm reading habits. It is not a tipster directory, not a paid-signal menu, and not advice to trade any print.

Site vs Telegram
Source habits stay here. When the number drops, Telegram offers live plain-English decoding—still educational: Macro Simplified on Telegram.

Beginners drown less in “Alpha Twitter” when they know where the official number lives and how to sit with it. Macro Simplified’s rule: primary release first, commentary second, action never required.

A calm desk with bookmarks for BLS, BEA, and Fed next to a checklist notepad

Diagram placeholder: official sources + habit checklist — study aid only.

Official releases worth knowing

You do not need every agency. Start with three U.S. pillars that dominate retail macro conversation:

BLS — Bureau of Labor Statistics

Home of CPI and the monthly employment situation (including nonfarm payrolls). When someone says “CPI printed” or “NFP printed,” the underlying tables live in BLS materials. Glossary: BLS. Primers: Inflation 101, Jobs and growth.

BEA — Bureau of Economic Analysis

Home of GDP and PCE price indexes (among other national accounts). The Fed has long preferred PCE when talking about its inflation goal. Glossary: BEA. Primers: Inflation 101, Jobs and growth.

Federal Reserve

Home of FOMC statements, press conferences, projections, speeches, and balance-sheet communications. Also regional Fed surveys and research. Primers: The Fed toolkit, Event playbook.

Bookmark the primary pages you actually open. Prefer the agency’s own release over a cropped screenshot with a flame emoji.

Other names you will meet later (Treasury, CFTC, ISM, private payroll processors) can wait until the core three feel familiar.

A calm reading habit

Before or after any big print, run a short loop (aligned with How to read macro and the Event playbook):

  1. Name the source. BLS? BEA? Fed? Other?
  2. Read the lead numbers from a primary or reputable wire summary—headline and the “core” or detail people will argue about.
  3. Versus expectations? Hotter, cooler, or in line? (Priced in / expectations)
  4. Versus recent trend? One month is not a personality transplant for the economy.
  5. Which dial? Growth, inflation, policy, liquidity.
  6. Open the evergreen primer on this site. Open Telegram only if you want same-day language—not if you want a buy/sell cue.
  7. Wait for revisions and details when they matter (jobs revisions, CPI category breakdowns).

That habit is the product. Speed-trading the print is not.

Pair with the Event playbook

The Event playbook gives a before / during / after process for FOMC, CPI, and NFP days. Sources and habits supply the where; the playbook supplies the how to sit still.

Suggested pairing:

Event Primary home Primer
CPI BLS Inflation 101
NFP / employment BLS Jobs and growth
PCE / GDP BEA Inflation 101 · Jobs and growth
FOMC Fed The Fed toolkit

What about newsletters, creators, and tipsters?

Commentary can help after you see the primary number—explaining plumbing, history, or chart context. It becomes harmful when it:

  • Sells urgency (“buy now before CPI”).
  • Hides disclosures.
  • Treats every print as a personal portfolio order.
  • Replaces the official release with vibes.

Macro Simplified will not publish a ranked list of tipsters to follow as signals. We will not launder someone’s trade ideas through this page. If a voice teaches vocabulary calmly, great—still verify against primary sources.

Telegram here is for educational live decoding, not a VIP alerts desk.

Screenshots vs tables

Viral images often crop the surprise without the confidence intervals, revisions, or category footnotes. When something feels extreme, open the agency table or the Fed statement text. Your future self will thank you for the extra ninety seconds. Pair that discipline with Common macro myths when a slogan is doing the heavy lifting instead of the data.

Weekly rhythm (optional)

  • One weekday: skim Fed or agency calendars for the week’s big prints.
  • Print day: Event playbook steps; optional Telegram.
  • Weekend: re-read one primer from First 30 days or a myth from Common macro myths.

Miss a week? Resume. Literacy compounds; streak anxiety does not.

If you only build one muscle this month, make it this: primary table before hot take. Everything else on this site—primers, myths, Telegram decode—works better when you already know what actually printed.

Related reads

If you want… Read
Before/during/after checklist Event playbook
Surprise vs level Priced in / expectations
30-day study order First 30 days
Myth corrections Common macro myths
Definitions Glossary

Live decoding lives on Telegram

https://t.me/MacroSimplified

Site = durable primers. Telegram = live event decoding.