The Financial News Index (FNI) uses massive amounts of news data to predict daily economic development. FNI is constructed by BI Centre for Applied Macroeconomics and Commodity Prices (CAMP) and the media analytics company Retriever.
The latest FNI numbers indicate the decline in economic activity is as steep as it was during the financial crisis. We expect the situation to worsen as more data and news become available. Below, the current development is contrasted with the development during the 2008 financial crisis, and the 2014 oil crisis. Graphs start at 0 on the beginning of each crisis, and show the development in FNI 30 days prior to this point and up to 90 days after it.
For details, see the CAMP website
FNI is based on the idea that frequency and intensity of media coverage of specific topics indicate their significance for economic development. FNI can be of great value to decision makers because it provides real-time information where indicators such as GDP and unemployment data are published with a considerable time lag.
See BI Business Review for an explanation of how FNI is constructed.