The Federal Reserve is the number one institution that influences the stock market. So, it is important for every investor to pay attention to news involving the Fed. The main Federal Reserve website is here: www.federalreserve.gov/, but the Fed has 12 different regions which also have separate websites.

My favorite regional website is the St. Louis Fed primarily because of extensive charts and other data that are available on the website for free. For example, if you look at the home page for the St. Louis Fed with the link above, you will see an Economic Snapshot chart on the top part of the right side of the page. This chart shows the Financial Stress Test current status. You can double-click on the chart to get a full view of it. If the stress test chart is near zero or negative, the economy is in good shape, and the stock market will likely be in a bull mode.

Another important part of the St. Louis Fed website involves a horizontal navigation tab at the top of the page entitled Research & Data. If you click on that tab, you will be taken to the FRED Economic Data part of the website where you can see many other charts. For example, the first research page will show things like the inflation rate, unemployment, GDP, and the interest rate of the 10-year treasury bond. Therefore, it will only take a few minutes at the website to get the real pulse of the economy.