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Two percent-change charts can tell different stories
Percent change vs year-ago change: reading the label
Two percent-change charts can tell different stories
On a FRED graph, 'Percent Change' compares an observation with the preceding observation. 'Percent Change from Year Ago' compares it with the corresponding observation one year earlier. A monthly move and a year-over-year move can therefore differ without either chart being wrong.
Before reading a jump in a market or economic chart, check the units label, observation frequency and comparison period. A transformed line may show a growth rate rather than the underlying level, so its height is not the original dollar amount or index value.
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