statement of earnings noun [C]. âº ACCOUNTING, FINANCE an âofficial âdocument that is âpart of a company's âfinancial âresults and gives details of its âprofit or âloss for a particular âperiod: During the âboom âyears, âcompanies put out exaggerated âstatements of âearnings.
Lagging indicators report on data that comes from past activity. The difference between leading and lagging indicators is the latter can indicate whether the nationâs economy is actually growing or contracting. A few examples of leading indicators may be bond yields or housing starts. Bonds are typically safe investments with little inherent risk.
What are leading, lagging and coincident indicators? What are they for? An indicator is anything that can be used to predict future financial or economic trends. For example, the social and economic statistics published by accredited sources such as U.S. government departments are indicators. Popular indicators include unemployment rates, housing starts, inflationary indexes and consumer confidence.