GDP
Gross domestic product is the total value of everything an economy produces in a period. It is the standard headline measure of economic size and growth.
GDP can be counted three ways that should in principle agree: by adding up everything produced, everything spent, or everything earned. The expenditure approach is the most cited — household consumption, business investment, government spending, and net exports.
Nominal GDP is measured at current prices, so it rises when prices rise even if nothing more is actually produced. Real GDP strips inflation out and is the figure that matters for judging whether an economy genuinely grew. Growth rates are usually quoted quarter-on-quarter or year-on-year.
The measure has well-known limits. It counts activity, not wellbeing: rebuilding after a disaster adds to GDP, while unpaid domestic and voluntary work does not appear at all. It also says nothing about how the output is distributed across a population.
Markets watch GDP as confirmation rather than as news, since it arrives with a lag and is revised repeatedly. Two consecutive quarters of contraction is a common rule of thumb for a recession, though official bodies in some countries use a broader set of indicators.
TrustFinance News tracks GDP releases across major economies in its economic calendar.