This class guide assist in obtaining historical exchange rate and macroeconomic data necessary to develop a regression model for forecasting currency movements.

Key Data Sources

• Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – Provides country profiles and reports for 200+ countries. Also allows access to key economic and market data for the countries of your choice. Country Data package provides a comprehensive database of macroeconomic indicators and forecasts.  
• Use EIU to obtain historical exchange rates and macroeconomic indicators if trading partner is the U.S.
  

• Thomson One Banker (T1B) - Combines multiple sources including Worldscope, Thomson First Call, NewsEdge, Datastream, and Extel to provide historical and current financial and market information for U.S. and International public companies. Deal information covers mergers & acquisitions, equity, bond, and loan deals. Price and constituent information on major indices, along with economic data, is also included in the database. Find quotes, earnings estimates, financial fundamentals, market moving news, transaction data, corporate filings, ownership profiles and research.
• Use T1B to obtain historical exchange rates if trading partner is a non-US country.
  

 
Accessing EIU  

1)     Goto the WCL homepage @ http://wcl.library.tamu.edu/
2)     Select Business Database List.
3)     Under the Industry & Economic Data – International section select Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
4)     Select Country Data/Market Indicators and Forecasts - New Data

 
Selecting Economic Data for Regression Analysis  

1)     Choose data package to build a new selection

a)     Select All Country Data

2)     Choose regions/countries

a)     Select the country, i.e. Germany

b)    Click add

3)     Choose series

a)     Select the Exchange rate LCU:$ (end-period)for the dependent variable (the variable you are trying to predict.  If trading parnter is a non-U.S. country, see section below on Obtaining Historical Exchange Rates for Non-U.S. Trading Partner

b)    Select desired dependent variables (at least three), i.e. interest rates and yields, inflation, current account, ect.

c)    Click add

4)     Choose years

a)  Select all years

b)  Click add

5)     View selection

a)     Click view data