Economic events explained

Last updated: 23 October 2026 · By Forexuro Desk · Editorial policy

Scheduled economic releases and central bank decisions are the moments when forex and gold most often move sharply. Each guide below explains what the release is, when it comes out, which pairs and gold it tends to move and how to manage risk around it. For trade ideas, see Forexuro forex signals and the gold signals.

Jobs

Inflation

Central bank decisions

Growth and activity

Trading around data releases is a form of fundamental analysis. To see how it compares with chart based methods, read fundamental vs technical analysis.

Using the calendar

Check the week's calendar before you trade, note the times in your own time zone and plan your position size. Current central bank rates are on the central banks page and the week ahead is covered in our weekly forecasts. To go deeper, the Forexuro courses cover trading around news.

The free Telegram channel posts reminders before major releases.

How a release moves prices

Markets trade on expectations, so the price before a release already reflects what most economists forecast. That forecast is called the consensus. What moves the price is the surprise: the gap between the actual figure and the consensus. A strong jobs number that matches the forecast may barely move EUR/USD, while a modest number well below the forecast can move it sharply.

Three details often matter as much as the headline. Earlier months can be revised, and a large revision can change the story. Central bank decisions come with a statement, and sometimes a press conference, which can matter more than the rate itself. And the first move after a release can reverse within minutes as traders read the detail.

Release times in UK time

Most of the releases above come out at fixed local times. This table converts the main ones for a UK reader.

The UK and the US change their clocks on different dates, so for a week or so in March and again from late October to early November, New York releases arrive an hour earlier in UK time than the table shows. The market hours clock shows the current gap.

Managing risk around a release

1. Check the time of the release in UK time and which of your open trades it could affect.
2. Decide in advance whether to close, reduce or hold. Many traders avoid opening a new position in the minutes just before a major release.
3. Expect wider spreads and allow for slippage: a stop is an instruction to close at the next available price, not a promise of a price.
4. Size the trade so that a worse fill would still be a loss you accept. The position size calculator helps.

Example only. The figures are illustrative and are not a trade or a result.

Say a GBP/USD trade risks £100 with a 25 pip stop, so each pip is worth £4. If UK CPI surprises and the price jumps 10 pips through the stop before it is filled, the loss is 35 pips × £4 = £140, not £100. Our guide to slippage, gaps and weekend risk explains why this happens.

Forexuro publishes every closed trade, including those around news, in the trade history, and the verify page explains how to check them. The signals page describes the current service.

Frequently asked questions

Education only, not financial advice. Trading forex, gold and CFDs carries a high risk of losing money, and leverage magnifies both gains and losses. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future results. Read our risk disclosure.