Learn

Filings

• Reading a 10-K

  The annual report every U.S. public company files with the SEC: what's in it, where to look first, and how to find one yourself.

  6 short lessons, about 5 minutes

• Reading a 10-Q's risk factors

  What a quarterly report is, why its risk-factor section usually lists only changes, and how to read a change word by word.

  5 short lessons, about 5 minutes

• What the 8-K items mean

  Companies file an 8-K within four business days of most major events. Each kind of event has an item number; here's what the common ones mean.

  6 short lessons, about 10 minutes

• Going-concern language

  What it means when a company or its auditor reports “substantial doubt” about the company's ability to continue as a going concern, and what that language doesn't say.

  4 short lessons, about 4 minutes

Economy

• How CPI is measured

  Where the Consumer Price Index comes from: what it measures, how prices are collected, how housing is counted, and how to read a release.

  4 short lessons, about 4 minutes

• The jobs report

  The monthly Employment Situation report from BLS: two surveys, what each one measures, and why the numbers get revised.

  4 short lessons, about 3 minutes

Housing

• How mortgage rates work

  Fixed and adjustable rates, Freddie Mac's weekly average, how the Fed's decisions reach mortgage rates, and what a rate means for a monthly payment.

  4 short lessons, about 4 minutes

• House price indexes and building permits

  How the FHFA House Price Index tracks prices, how the Census Bureau counts permits, starts and completions, and what an annual rate means.

  4 short lessons, about 4 minutes

Glossary