Macroeconomic indicators
GDP, recession, the labour market, PMI and why markets react to deviations from forecasts.
GDP is the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country over a period. A common simplified definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP.
The US employment report (nonfarm payrolls) and the PMI are early signals of the state of the economy. A PMI above 50 means expanding activity.
Markets react to deviations of actual data from the forecast, because expectations are already priced in.