Data sources

Know where every important reading begins.

VisionBoard combines official economic releases with third-party market observations. These sources have different schedules, revision policies, and failure modes; “latest” does not mean every value was measured at the same instant.

Primary economic series

Core macro observations are retrieved through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED service. FRED republishes data from the originating statistical agencies; the source and release notes on each series page remain authoritative.

FRED series requested by current core and alternative-data workflows
SeriesReadingTypical frequency
A191RL1Q225SBEAReal GDP growthQuarterly
T10Y2Y10-year minus 2-year Treasury spreadDaily
DFFEffective federal-funds rateDaily
CPIAUCSLConsumer Price IndexMonthly
UMCSENTUniversity of Michigan consumer sentimentMonthly
INDPROIndustrial production indexMonthly
UNRATEOfficial unemployment input for the alternative-data comparisonMonthly
CES0500000003Average hourly earnings inputMonthly
REVOLSLRevolving consumer credit inputMonthly
MORTGAGE30US30-year fixed mortgage-rate inputWeekly
MEHOINUSA646NMedian household income inputAnnual

Additional release-calendar, liquidity, housing, credit, inflation, and labor series can appear in feature-specific views. The series identifier shown with a reading is the clearest way to identify the exact definition.

Modeled “reality check” values

Several alternative-economics fields are VisionBoard heuristics, not separately published government series. The current implementation derives “adjusted inflation” from CPI inflation with a multiplier and fixed housing adjustment, and estimates “broad unemployment” from the official U-3 rate with a fixed multiplier. It does not currently retrieve the BLS U-6 series directly.

The housing-affordability calculation also uses a fixed home-price assumption, while credit stress combines revolving-credit growth with a fixed delinquency benchmark. If upstream inputs are missing, the workflow can return explicitly labeled estimated fallback values. These outputs are scenario tools, not official statistics or independent measurements.

Interpret with care

Source labels should distinguish a retrieved observation from a VisionBoard calculation or fallback. The formulas and fixed assumptions can become stale even when the page itself is newly rendered.

Market and company observations

Depending on the feature and upstream availability, price, performance, company, options, and news observations may come from Yahoo Finance endpoints, Stooq, Financial Modeling Prep, Alpha Vantage, Polygon, or a stored prior observation. VisionBoard can switch to a fallback when a primary endpoint is delayed, restricted, incomplete, or unavailable.

A market quote displayed by the product is informational and may be delayed. It is not an executable quote, official exchange record, or substitute for a broker’s order-entry data. Where a feature exposes a source or fallback badge, use it together with the observation timestamp.

Four dates that matter

Observation date

The period the value describes—for example, a month or quarter.

Release date

When the source first published or revised the observation.

Retrieved or cached at

When VisionBoard last obtained and stored the value.

Page updated

When the surrounding analysis or page was materially changed.

These dates should not be treated as interchangeable. A recently rendered page can contain an older monthly or quarterly observation because that is the newest release available.

Revisions and fallback states

Economic agencies routinely revise seasonal adjustments and prior observations. VisionBoard generally reflects the source value available when the cache refreshes, so historical dashboard readings may differ from later vintages unless a feature explicitly preserves vintages.

When an upstream request fails, a feature may show a cached value, alternate provider, restricted view, or unavailable state. It should not silently present a fabricated real-time observation. If a source label and the displayed value appear inconsistent, please report it.

How to cite or verify a reading

  1. Record the VisionBoard page URL, displayed value, source label, and timestamp.
  2. For economic data, open the linked FRED series and compare the same observation period and units.
  3. Check the source notes for seasonal adjustment, units, frequency, and revisions.
  4. For market data, verify the same symbol, session, adjustment convention, and timestamp with an authoritative market source.