LEARN THE DESK / CALENDAR
Economic calendar: CPI, FOMC and measuring market reactions
Learn event timing and calculate a before-and-after return without confusing correlation with causation.
Know the scheduled event before interpreting the move
CPI releases report consumer inflation; FOMC announcements communicate monetary-policy decisions. Check the release time and timezone, then compare actual figures with expectations. A before-and-after market move can also reflect other news, positioning and liquidity. Opening range studies similarly need a defined session start: a 15-minute opening range is the high and low of the first 15 regular-session minutes, not any 15-minute block.
Try it with your own numbers
Local calculation only. These inputs are illustrative, not live quotes. Nothing you enter is uploaded.
Worked example
SPY moving from $500 before an announcement to $503 at a defined later timestamp is a +0.6% return. One example is not an average event reaction, and it does not establish that the announcement caused the entire move.
The calculation
Window return = 100 × (ending price / starting price − 1).Method and references
Arithmetic is shown above so you can reproduce the result. Indicator background: J. Welles Wilder, New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems (1978); John Bollinger, Bollinger on Bollinger Bands (2001). These references explain methods, not a claim that TickSPY predicts prices.
Exercises use the values you enter, not a hidden market feed. Examples demonstrate mechanics; they are not evidence of profitability. Reviewed October 11, 2026.
What this cannot tell you
No CPI or FOMC reaction-history dataset is published here. A valid study needs verified release timestamps, consistent before/after windows, adjusted market data, sample counts and a comparison baseline. The exercise uses your inputs only.