CycleWatch

Signals › Credit & Financial Conditions

EBP · FED_BOARD

Excess bond premium (Gilchrist-Zakrajsek)

Credit spread net of expected default. With the term spread, AUROC ~0.88. The most valuable single factor in this registry.

Latest reading

-0.319

Percentage points · observation 2026-07-01, published —

Last 24 observations.

Signal

+0.70

Inside the normal range. Not a strong reading either way.

Use
In model: block 5 score
Model input
the level as published
Direction
A rising value raises recession risk.

Where it fits

Credit & Financial Conditions: Measure the price and availability of credit — the best-performing partner to the term spread in published out-of-sample work. The model averages the standardised signals in each block into a block score, then combines the twelve block scores in a probit. Today the 12-block model reads 1.6%.

Other signals in this block