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For a video overview of this product, watch How to Use the US Inflation Tracker Tool.
How to access the US Inflation Tracker Tool
From the home page of the IBISWorld database, click on “Expert Tools” in the top navigation bar, then click on “US Inflation Tracker Tool.”
To download the most up to date version of the tool, click “Download Inflation Tracker Tool (Excel)” under LATEST VERSION.
Usage Guidance
Once you’ve downloaded the tool, the first tab is the Usage Guidance worksheet. This worksheet functions as a table of contents where you’ll find a summary of the different worksheets and their uses.
Descriptions and Definitions worksheet
The Descriptions and Definitions worksheet includes a definition of the Inflation Tracker Tool and breaks down key terms found within the tool.
What is the Index Tracker worksheet?
The Index Tracker worksheet shows you the rolling 12-month inflation level and trend over the past few months and compares it to the same value for the prior year. This information is displayed at the sector level (the highlighted rows) and at a more granular level within the sector (below the highlighted rows).
This worksheet will be updated monthly as inflation data becomes available.
What is the Industry Tracker worksheet?
Once you have a clear picture of the inflation environment from the Index Tracker, you can use the Industry Tracker worksheet to dive into inflation at the industry level.
To use this worksheet, first, click into a sector under Select Economic NAICS Sector at the top of the worksheet.
After choosing a sector, you’ll see a list of industries within that sector and their risk level for inflation.
The Direct Inflation Risk is calculated by measuring the distance an industry is from the Federal Reserve’s target inflation rate of 2%. A “Very High” level is 5% or greater from the target rate, “High” is 4-5% from the target rate, “Moderate” is 2-4% from the target rate and ”Low” is less than 2% from the target rate.
The Output Risk looks at the inflation risk of industries buying from a given industry.
The Input Risk is the inflation risk of the industries that a given industry is buying from.
The Overall Inflation Risk is the average risk of the other risk factors.
Settings
The Settings worksheet allows you to change the previously mentioned boundaries for exposure to inflation in order to stress test different scenarios. For example, you could change the boundary for a “High” exposure to inflation from 5% higher than the target to 6%.
Other usage tips
Microsoft Office may display a “Security Risk” warning and block macros from running when the tool is first downloaded.
The US Inflation Tracker Tool does not use macros that scrape data from the user’s own computer. However, it does require other macros to successfully run.
To unblock macros, click “Learn More” and follow the steps in Microsoft’s documentation on unblocking macros.
If you download the US Inflation Tracker Tool and do not see this “Security Risk” warning, make sure macros are unblocked by following the directions in Microsoft’s documentation on changing macro settings.
For additional questions regarding the US Inflation Tracker Tool, please contact your Client Relationship Manager. If you don’t have an IBISWorld account, please contact us to learn more about our membership options.