From gold’s resurgence to the entropy of crypto markets, this edition of Macro Moves dives deep into data breakthroughs and blind spots shaping our economic and financial reality.​

We explore how energy demand is being reshaped by digital infrastructure, revisit labor unrest through a historical lens and introduce new layers of macro insights through dashboards and alternative indicators. From climate anomalies to maritime congestion, each chart highlights the power of structured data in uncovering both momentum and nuances.​

Whether it’s quantifying credit cycles, decoding equity market trends, or revealing structural shifts in Japan’s car exports, this collection showcases the intersection of thoughtful design and timely relevance — turning complex trends into clear, actionable insights.

Data Additions - newly added, useful and clearly valuable datasets

Streamlined Access to the Magnificent 7 via Macrobond

While Macrobond has long offered a comprehensive database of stock prices, we’ve now introduced a more streamlined way to access selected equity groups.​

​One standout example is the Magnificent 7 — a set of market-dominating companies that have captured global attention in recent years, with Nvidia recently becoming the first company in history to surpass the $4 trillion mark.​

​With the new data tree [▶], our users can now access all stocks in this group through a single, curated dataset — eliminating the need to search and browse company by company.

Five Decades of Change in Japan’s Vehicle Export Composition

Macrobond has expanded its dataset on Japan’s automobile exports, now offering detailed historical coverage by vehicles type dating back to 1975. ​

​Over the past five decades, the composition of exports has changed dramatically. Small and mini passenger cars, once dominant, have been overtaken by standard-sized vehicles. ​

​A similar shift occurred in the truck segment, where exports of small trucks have disappeared over time.

Frac Job Count as a Key Indicator of U.S. Oilfield Activity

Macrobond has partnered with Primary Vision to extend the coverage in the data related to upstream oil and gas activities in the U.S. ​

​The Frac Job Count – a high-frequency measure tracking the number of active hydraulic fracturing jobs across the U.S. ​

​This indicator offers a timely view into capital expenditure trends, labor demand and regional economic momentum within key energy-producing regions.

Data Breakthroughs - long-standing datasets now seeing wider recognition and application

ETFs Spark New Surge in Gold Demand

Gold’s strong performance in 2025 has become one of the defining themes of the year. After a prolonged period of subdued interest, the first half of 2025 marks a shift. ​

​According to the recent data from World Gold Council, ETFs and similar investment vehicles are once again showing renewed interest in bullion, becoming key drivers of the demand.​

​As tariffs and rising global uncertainty are adding fuel to the fire, gold’s role as a safe-haven asset is reconsidered once again.

U.S. Energy Consumption Surges as AI Growth Accelerates

As AI and other high-tech industries continue to expand, the role of energy in supporting this growth is becoming increasingly critical. ​

​Currently, U.S. energy consumption has exceeded the 2 standard deviation threshold — a level not seen since the end of last winter. ​

​However, unlike the previous surge, which was largely driven by extreme weather conditions, the current increase may reflect a more structural shift: the renewed and growing demand from data centers, AI infrastructure and digital technologies.​

Data Blind Spots - Overlooked or underused datasets with high analytical potential

175 Years of Data Show Ongoing Rise in Global Temperatures

While Europe experienced one of the hottest starts to July in recent memory, global temperature trends for 2025 so far suggest a slight moderation compared to recent record-breaking years.​

According to NOAA’s global climate data, which tracks monthly temperature anomalies across nearly 175 years, the broader warming trend remains firmly in place. ​

​The latest figures show that the 5-year global average temperature continues to exceed the 20th-century baseline by more than 1.07°C — a trend that has now been sustained for over five decades.

Monitoring Strike Activity Across U.S. Presidencies

Strikes have long served as a barometer of economic pressure and political sentiment. ​

​By breaking down the number of new participants in strikes by presidential administration, a clearer picture of these underlying dynamics emerges. ​

​The data shows that strike activity peaked during the late 1990s under President Clinton, with the second-highest surge occurred more recently, during President Biden’s term, with over 176k people joining new strikes.

A New Look at U.S. Port Activity Through Alternative Data

As part of our latest data expansion, Macrobond has integrated data on average truck speed around major U.S. ports. This unconventional metric offers a novel way to monitor port congestion and logistical bottlenecks beyond traditional indicators.​

​In addition, we’ve developed a comprehensive dashboard covering key data points across the U.S. maritime supply chain. ​

​In the context of shifting tariffs and evolving global trade dynamics, alternative data like this can offer timely and actionable insights that standard economic statistics may miss.

Data Crafts - Ingenious ways of visualizing or modeling the data

Integrated Macroeconomic Insights Visualized Unconventionally

Macrobond offers an extensive coverage of macroeconomic data, but clear and accurate visualization is often key to extracting insights. ​

​To support this, we’ve designed a vertical dashboard that brings together core indicators such as GDP, government debt, inflation, unemployment, and more.​

​The default view showcases Italy as an example, but with the “Change region” function, our users can instantly switch to the same dashboard layout for a wide range of other countries.

Macrobond’s Credit Impulse as a Leading Economic Indicator

The Credit Impulse — a term coined by former Deutsche Bank economist Michael Biggs — measures the change in the flow of new credit relative to the size of an economy and serves as a leading indicator of future economic activity.​

​Macrobond designed the chart to offer a comprehensive view of the global credit environment. ​

​In addition to the world version, we are also offering dedicated charts for the Euro Area and Germany — the latter of which can be easily customized to display data for any other country using the “Change region” function.

Physics and Finance: Shannon Entropy in Crypto Market

Shannon entropy is a measure of uncertainty, widely used in fields such as information theory, astrophysics and increasingly in financial analysis, including modern portfolio theory.​

​In our exploration, we applied Shannon entropy to the cryptocurrency market as a way to quantify market concentration. ​

​A higher entropy value indicates a more balanced distribution of market capitalization across various coins, while a lower entropy signals dominance by a few large players, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.