Agent skill

Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis

by HKUDS in HKUDS/Vibe-Trading

Reads GDP, inflation, PMI, rates and FX data plus central bank policy to place the economy in a cycle stage and derive major asset allocation tilts for China, the US and Europe.

MITAuto-check passedBusiness, Finance & HR

Install Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis

skills CLI
$ npx skills add HKUDS/Vibe-Trading --skill macro-analysis -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install HKUDS/Vibe-Trading macro-analysis --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HKUDS/Vibe-Trading.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/agent/src/skills/macro-analysis .claude/skills/macro-analysis && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
macro-analysis
GitHub stars
35k
Token cost
~2.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
653 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
89
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Reads GDP, inflation, PMI, rates and FX data plus central bank policy to place the economy in a cycle stage and derive major asset allocation tilts for China, the US and Europe.

  • Works in 4 steps: Data Collection and Current-State… → Cycle Positioning → Policy Impact Assessment → …
  • Identifying which stage of the economic cycle the economy is in
  • SKILL.md covers Overview, Core Indicator System, Four-Stage Economic Cycle Model and Central Bank Policy Analysis…, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

The skill interprets macro data and central bank policy for China (PBOC), the United States (Fed) and Europe (ECB). Indicator tables give frequency, key thresholds and data sources for growth measures such as GDP, PMI, industrial production and retail sales, for inflation measures such as CPI, PPI, core CPI and M2, and for rates and FX such as LPR, DR007, 10-year yields, USD/CNY and the US 10Y-2Y spread.

It then places the economy on a four-stage cycle using the Merrill Lynch clock, with stages defined by the direction of growth and inflation, starting with recovery and overheat, and a table of the best, second-best and worst asset for each stage along with the typical policy setting. The output is a set of tilts across the major asset classes.

When your agent uses it

  • Identifying which stage of the economic cycle the economy is in
  • Interpreting a PMI, CPI or GDP release against key thresholds
  • Reading PBOC, Fed or ECB policy for asset allocation
  • Deriving equity, bond and commodity tilts from the cycle stage

Example prompts

  • “Which Merrill Lynch clock stage fits a PMI above 50 together with falling CPI?”
  • “Interpret the latest China CPI and PPI numbers and what they imply for corporate profits.”
  • “What does an inverted US 10Y-2Y spread signal, and how far ahead does it lead?”
  • “Suggest asset allocation tilts for the overheat stage.”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Data Collection and Current-State Description
  2. Cycle Positioning
  3. Policy Impact Assessment
  4. Asset Allocation Tilt

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 14cabaf. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are markdown).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis loads about 2.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 46 tokens; SKILL.md has 653 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~46
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from HKUDS/Vibe-Trading at commit 14cabaf, republished under its MIT licence (© HKUDS). 653 words, ~2,084 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/macro-analysis/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
macro-analysis
description
Macroeconomic cycle positioning and central-bank policy interpretation, including GDP/CPI/PMI/rates/FX analysis, with output in the form of major-asset allocation tilts.
category
analysis

Macroeconomic Analysis

Overview

Interprets macroeconomic data and central-bank policy, identifies the current economic-cycle stage, and derives major-asset allocation direction. Covers the three major economies of China (PBOC), the United States (Fed), and Europe (ECB).

Core Indicator System

Growth Indicators
IndicatorFrequencyKey ThresholdData Source
GDP YoYQuarterlyChina >5% = normal, <4% = weakNational Bureau of Statistics
Manufacturing PMIMonthly>50 = expansion, <50 = contraction, 49-51 = borderlineNBS / Caixin
Industrial productionMonthly>5% = normalNational Bureau of Statistics
Retail salesMonthly>8% = strong consumptionNational Bureau of Statistics
Fixed asset investmentMonthlyFocus on infrastructure vs real-estate componentsNational Bureau of Statistics
Inflation Indicators
IndicatorFrequencyKey ThresholdInterpretation
CPI YoYMonthly>3% = inflation pressure, <0% = deflation riskStrongly affected by the pork cycle, so core CPI is more reliable
PPI YoYMonthly>0% = improving corporate profits, <0% = deflation transmissionLeads CPI by 3-6 months
Core CPIMonthly>2% = demand-driven inflationExcludes food and energy
M2 YoYMonthly>10% = monetary easingThe M2-M1 spread reflects how active liquidity is
Rates and FX
IndicatorMeaningFocus
1Y / 5Y LPRLoan prime rateRate-cut signal
DR007Interbank 7-day repo rateFunding tightness / looseness
10Y government bond yieldRisk-free rate anchor<2.5% = loose, >3.5% = tight
USD/CNYExchange rate>7.3 = high depreciation pressure
US 10Y-2Y spreadTerm spreadInversion signals recession (leads by 12-18 months)

Four-Stage Economic Cycle Model

Merrill Lynch Clock Framework
        GDP↑ + CPI↓           GDP↑ + CPI↑
        ┌─────────┐           ┌─────────┐
        │ Recovery │ ────→    │ Overheat│
        │          │           │         │
        └────┬────┘           └────┬────┘
             ↑                     │
             │                     ↓
        ┌────┴────┐           ┌────┴────┐
        │Recession│ ←────     │Stagflat │
        │         │           │         │
        └─────────┘           └─────────┘
        GDP↓ + CPI↓           GDP↓ + CPI↑
Asset Performance by Stage
StageBest AssetSecond-Best AssetWorst AssetTypical Policy
RecoveryEquities (growth / small cap)CommoditiesBondsMonetary easing + fiscal stimulus
OverheatCommodities (oil / copper)Equities (cyclical / value)BondsHiking cycle begins
StagflationCash / short-duration bondsGoldEquitiesPolicy dilemma
RecessionBonds (long duration)GoldEquities / commoditiesRate cuts + quantitative easing
China-Specific Adjustments
  • Real-estate cycle: property sales / investment is a core variable in China's economy, and the policy response during downturns determines the turning point
  • Infrastructure offset: when property is weak, infrastructure often strengthens (countercyclical adjustment), so track the pace of special-bond issuance
  • Export orientation: external demand (US PMI / Eurozone PMI) affects manufacturing conditions
  • Policy-driven market: tone-setting from Politburo meetings / the Central Economic Work Conference matters more than the data itself

Central Bank Policy Analysis Framework

Show full SKILL.md (296 more words)Show less
Federal Reserve (Fed)

Sequence to watch: FOMC statement → dot plot → Powell speech → meeting minutes

SignalHawkish (tightening)Dovish (easing)
Employment"labor market remains tight""softening in labor market"
Inflation"inflation remains elevated""inflation moving toward target"
Forward guidance"further tightening may be appropriate""rate cuts could be appropriate"
Balance sheetFaster / continued QTSlower QT / hints of QE

Fed decision function: core PCE > 2.5% → tightening bias; unemployment > 4.5% → easing bias; when the two conflict, focus on which deviation is larger

People's Bank of China (PBOC)

Toolbox:

ToolSignal StrengthImpact
RRR cutStrongReleases long-term liquidity, bullish for equities and bonds
Rate cuts (MLF/LPR)StrongReduces financing costs, bullish for growth stocks
OMO (reverse repo)MediumShort-term liquidity adjustment
PSL / relendingMediumTargeted support (infrastructure / real estate)
Window guidanceWeak but effectiveDirects credit allocation
European Central Bank (ECB)

Core variables: HICP (harmonized CPI), Eurozone PMI, Germany-France yield spread Special feature: large divergence among member economies, creating a "one size fits all" problem

Analysis Framework

Step 1: Data Collection and Current-State Description
Collect core indicators from the latest 3 months:
- China: PMI, CPI, PPI, M2, aggregate financing, LPR
- United States: nonfarm payrolls, CPI, core PCE, ISM PMI, Fed rate
- Global: oil, copper, US dollar index (DXY), VIX
Step 2: Cycle Positioning
Decision criteria:
1. GDP trend: accelerating / decelerating / topping / bottoming
2. Inflation trend: rising / falling / topping / bottoming
3. Policy direction: easing / neutral / tightening / turning
4. Composite stage: recovery / overheat / stagflation / recession
5. Cycle position: early / mid / late
Step 3: Policy Impact Assessment
1. Recent policy events (last 30 days)
2. Interpretation of policy intent (support growth / control inflation / contain risk)
3. Transmission paths to each asset class
4. Lag estimation (6-12 months for monetary policy, 3-6 months for fiscal policy)
Step 4: Asset Allocation Tilt
Based on cycle position and policy direction:
- Overweight / neutral / underweight: China A-shares / Hong Kong stocks / US equities / bonds / commodities / cash
- Style tilt: growth vs value, large cap vs small cap
- Sector preference: cyclical / defensive / growth

Output Format

markdown
## Macro Environment Assessment

### Snapshot of Core Data
| Indicator | Latest | Previous | Trend |
|------|--------|------|------|
| China PMI | 50.2 | 49.8 | ↑ |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

### Economic Cycle Positioning
- **Current stage**: early recovery / mid-overheat / late stagflation / mid-recession
- **Core logic**: explain the basis in 2-3 sentences
- **Estimated remaining duration**: expected to last another X months

### Central Bank Policy Analysis
- **PBOC**: easing bias, likely another 25bp RRR cut in Q2
- **Fed**: hiking pause, watch the June dot plot
- **Policy conflicts**: whether there are conflicting policy signals worth attention

### Major Asset Allocation Tilt
| Asset | Recommendation | Logic |
|------|------|------|
| China A-shares | Overweight | Policy bottom confirmed + loose liquidity |
| Bonds | Neutral | Limited room for rates to fall further |
| Commodities | Underweight | Weak demand |
| Cash | Underweight | High opportunity cost |

### Risk Warnings
- Risk 1: ...
- Risk 2: ...

Notes

  1. Data timeliness: macro data is released with lags; PMI is the timeliest (start of month), GDP is the most delayed (quarter-end + 15 days)
  2. Do not predict precisely: macro analysis provides directional judgment, not exact levels or timing
  3. Focus on marginal change: direction and speed of change matter more than absolute levels
  4. China-specific feature: policy intent > economic data, and major meeting tone-setting has the highest priority
  5. Global linkage: the US dollar / US Treasury yields are global pricing anchors, and Fed policy affects global liquidity
  6. Avoid hindsight bias: analyze based on the information available at the time, not by reverse-engineering from future data

© HKUDS, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in agent/src/skills/macro-analysis of HKUDS/Vibe-Trading.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 14cabaf

Compare with similar skills

Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis this skillHKUDS/Vibe-Trading35k—~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Revops Revenue Planningswan-gtm/gtm-skills165—~7.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
FRED Macro Time Serieskansoku-trade/kansoku3271 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: NotesCustom licence
Financial Analysis AgentLeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills2.2k—~4.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Fin Modelingasgard-ai-platform/skills241—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Strategy Performance Reporttradesdontlie/tradingview-mcp6.8k3 repos~591Automated safety check: PassCustom licence

Similar skills

  • Revops Revenue Planning

    swan-gtm/gtm-skills

    Annual and quarterly revenue plan construction, top-down vs bottoms-up reconciliation, plan versioning, stretch goal handling, and FP&A-RevOps collaboration for B2B revenue teams.

    165 GitHub stars~7.2k tokensUpdated today
    Business, Finance & HRAuto-check passed
  • FRED Macro Time Series

    kansoku-trade/kansoku

    Looks up US and global macro series from St. Louis Fed FRED, such as CPI, GDP, Fed funds, yields, M2 and the dollar index, and reports them with units and dates.

    327 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.1k tokens
    Data & AnalyticsAuto-check: notes
  • Financial Analysis Agent

    LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills

    Financial analysis skill for AI agents. An agent skill from LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills.

    2.2k GitHub stars~4.3k tokensUpdated 2 mo ago
    Business, Finance & HRAuto-check passed
  • Fin Modeling

    asgard-ai-platform/skills

    Build three-statement financial models (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow) with revenue forecasting, assumption management, and scenario analysis.

    241 GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated 4 mo ago
    Business, Finance & HRAuto-check passed
  • Strategy Performance Report

    tradesdontlie/tradingview-mcp

    Builds a performance report for a backtested Pine Script strategy from TradingView data, covering metrics, trades, the equity curve and improvement ideas.

    6.8k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~591 tokens
    Business, Finance & HRAuto-check passed
  • Charlie

    EveryInc/charlie-cfo-skill

    Your AI CFO for bootstrapped startups, named after Charlie Munger who embodied the principle that capital discipline is a competitive advantage.

    324 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.4k tokens
    Business, Finance & HRAuto-check passed

More from HKUDS/Vibe-Trading

All 89 skills in this repo
  • Eastmoney Market Data

    HKUDS/Vibe-Trading

    Index of Eastmoney's free, no-token market data interfaces for China A-shares and Hong Kong stocks: fund flows, dragon-tiger lists, margin trading, reports and news.

    35k GitHub stars~1k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed
  • OKX Market Data

    HKUDS/Vibe-Trading

    Retrieves public OKX cryptocurrency market data such as spot prices, candlesticks, funding rates and open interest through the OKX V5 REST API, with no authentication.

    35k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed
  • SEC EDGAR Filings Fetcher

    HKUDS/Vibe-Trading

    Fetches U.S. SEC EDGAR data: resolves tickers to CIK numbers, lists recent 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filings with document URLs, and pulls XBRL financial series.

    35k GitHub stars~1.4k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed
  • A-Share ST Risk Screener

    HKUDS/Vibe-Trading

    Predicts whether a mainland China A-share company risks an ST or *ST warning after its next annual report, using financial thresholds and Sina penalty records.

    35k GitHub stars~4.9k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed
  • Breaks a structural trend such as AI infrastructure into its physical supply chain and ranks lesser-known listed companies sitting on each bottleneck.

    35k GitHub stars~2.7k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed
  • Plans and drafts an eight-part, roughly 120k-word investigative series on one company, built around a strict fact-check pass rather than fast drafting.

    35k GitHub stars~2.4k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

Questions about Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis

What does Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis do?

Reads GDP, inflation, PMI, rates and FX data plus central bank policy to place the economy in a cycle stage and derive major asset allocation tilts for China, the US and Europe. The skill interprets macro data and central bank policy for China (PBOC), the United States (Fed) and Europe (ECB). Indicator tables give frequency, key thresholds and data sources for growth measures such as GDP, PMI, industrial production and retail sales, for inflation measures such as CPI, PPI, core CPI and M2, and for rates and FX such as LPR, DR007, 10-year yields, USD/CNY and the US 10Y-2Y spread.

When should I use Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis?

Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis fits situations like: identifying which stage of the economic cycle the economy is in; interpreting a PMI, CPI or GDP release against key thresholds; reading PBOC, Fed or ECB policy for asset allocation; deriving equity, bond and commodity tilts from the cycle stage.

How do I install Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add HKUDS/Vibe-Trading --skill macro-analysis -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (agent/src/skills/macro-analysis in HKUDS/Vibe-Trading) into .claude/skills/macro-analysis in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis in Codex?

Run `npx skills add HKUDS/Vibe-Trading --skill macro-analysis -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (agent/src/skills/macro-analysis in HKUDS/Vibe-Trading) into .agents/skills/macro-analysis in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add HKUDS/Vibe-Trading --skill macro-analysis -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/macro-analysis, .gemini/skills/macro-analysis, .github/skills/macro-analysis and .opencode/skills/macro-analysis in your project.

What does Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis is instructions for the agent only.

Does Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis use?

Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis use?

About 2.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis: Revops Revenue Planning (swan-gtm/gtm-skills, 165 stars), FRED Macro Time Series (kansoku-trade/kansoku, 327 stars), Financial Analysis Agent (LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills, 2.2k stars) and Fin Modeling (asgard-ai-platform/skills, 241 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Macro Cycle and Policy Analysis?

HKUDS (a GitHub organization) maintains it in HKUDS/Vibe-Trading, which has 34,949 GitHub stars. The repository holds 89 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: HKUDS/Vibe-Trading on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.