In fundamental analysis, you are basically valuing either a business, for equity markets, or a country, for FOREX. If you think it's hard enough to value one company, you should try valuing a whole country. It can be quite difficult to do, but there are indicators that can be studied to give insight into how the country works. A few indicators you might want to study are: Non-farm payrolls, Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Retail Sales, and Durable Goods.
Most traders in the FOREX market only use fundamental analysis to predict long-term trends. However, some traders do trade short-term based on the reactions to different news releases. There are also quite a variety of meetings where you can get quotes and commentary that can affect markets just as much as any news release or indicator report. These meetings are often discuss interest rates, inflation, and other issues that have the ability to affect currency values.
Even changes in how things are worded in statements addressing these types of issues, such as the Federal Reserve chairman's comments on interest rates, can cause volatility in the market. Two important meetings that you should watch for are the Federal Open Market Committee and the Humphrey Hawkins Hearings.
Just by reading the reports and examining the commentary, a FOREX fundamental analyst can get a better understanding of most long-term market trends. Keeping up on these developments will also allow short-term traders to profit from extraordinary happenings. If you do decide to follow a fundamental strategy, you will want to keep an economic calendar handy at all times so you know when these reports are released. Your broker may also be able to provide you with real-time access to this kind of information.
