Fear & Greed Index (econix)
Pizza Index
waffle-house-index
Rosh Hashanah Effect
Big Mac Index
Sunspot & Stock Market
AAII Investor Sentiment
Fear & Greed Index (CNN)
Unofficial indicators are alternative signals built from public information or everyday observation, rather than official statistics published by an agency to a fixed methodology. This dashboard gathers the Fear and Greed Index, the Pentagon Pizza Index, the Rosh Hashanah effect, the Big Mac Index, AAII investor sentiment, and sunspots versus the stock market. They are a mixed set: some measure sentiment, some infer geopolitical tension, one gauges currency values, and one is close to pure cultural curiosity. What they share is that none of them replaces an official statistic.
Official statistics are accurate but slow. The more important the number — quarterly GDP, monthly employment — the longer collection and verification take, so by publication it often describes a period that has already passed. Unofficial indicators trade accuracy for speed, and some of them cover things official statistics do not touch at all. No agency compiles how frightened market participants are, or how busy a particular organisation is. They are therefore used to fill gaps around official data rather than to stand in for it.
The most important rule is not to act on any single unofficial indicator. Most rest on small samples with no verification process, so an individual signal is not reliable, and some of the measures collected here are frankly closer to entertainment. It is only when several point the same way at once that they become worth investigating, and even then you should check whether official data or news supports the reading. Each indicator has its own page setting out how it is built and where it breaks down, and that is worth reading before the numbers.