---
license: other
language:
  - en
pretty_name: Macro Indicators — Vintage / PIT (FRED-style)
tags:
  - point-in-time
  - pit
  - ziplime
  - backtesting
  - alternative-data
  - finance
  - macro
task_categories:
  - time-series-forecasting
size_categories:
  - n<1K
configs:
  - config_name: default
    data_files:
      - split: train
        path: data/data_bundle/**/*.parquet
---

# 📊 Macro Indicators — Vintage / PIT (FRED-style)

Macroeconomic time series with release vintages preserved — every revision is a point-in-time row, so backtests see the number that was actually published, not the latest revision.

Part of the **ziplime Point-in-Time (PIT) data layer** — append-only datasets with an
explicit split between when a fact *happened* (`event_date`) and when it became *known*
(`knowledge_date`). A simulation at time **T** can only ever observe rows with
`knowledge_date <= T`, so restatements, publication lag and hindsight can't leak into a
backtest. The identical code path runs live with **T = now**.

- **Data class:** Alternative data — macro series
- **Entity domain:** `macro` — A macro series code (e.g. `GDPC1`, `UNRATE`) — not an issuer.
- **Origin:** FRED / ALFRED vintages and national statistical agencies
- **License:** FRED terms — mixed upstream sources
- **Update cadence:** daily, ingesting new releases and revision vintages (`0 7 * * *`)
- **Format:** ziplime Delta Lake bundle (`data_type: PIT_DATA`)

## Why point-in-time?

Backtests on non-price data are systematically optimistic when the data layer has no notion
of *when a fact became known*. Three failure modes this dataset is built to avoid:

1. **Restatements** — a value reported one quarter and revised the next. Storing only the
   final value lets a backtest "know" the revision months early.
2. **Publication lag** — fundamentals keyed by fiscal-period-end, joined to prices at
   period end rather than the (weeks-later) filing date.
3. **Hindsight in derived signals** — a recent model scoring old text has already seen how
   the story ended.

All three are the same bug, and it is fixed in the data layer, not in strategy code.

## Schema

### System columns (every PIT dataset)

| Column | Type | Semantics |
|---|---|---|
| `entity_id` | Utf8 | Stable entity identifier (resolved via the `entity_map` PIT dataset) |
| `event_date` | Timestamp(UTC, µs) | The moment the fact refers to |
| `knowledge_date` | Timestamp(UTC, µs) | The moment it became publicly known — **the only column the as-of filter uses** |
| `knowledge_estimated` | Boolean | `true` if `knowledge_date` was reconstructed by a lag model rather than taken from the source |
| `ingested_at` | Timestamp(UTC, µs) | When our pipeline wrote the row (audit only; never used in as-of) |

### Value columns (this dataset)

| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `series_value` | Float64 | Value for the period, as published in this vintage |
| `unit` | Utf8 | Unit of measure |
| `native_frequency` | Utf8 | `D` / `W` / `M` / `Q` |
| `release_kind` | Utf8 | `initial` or `revision` |

The logical key of a fact is `(entity_id, event_date)`. A **revision** is a new row with the
same key and a later `knowledge_date`. Written rows are immutable; history is never rewritten.

## As-of access

Inside a ziplime strategy there is **no `T` parameter** — the knowledge moment always equals
the simulation clock (live: wall clock):

```python
async def initialize(context):
    context.ds = await context.pit("macro-indicators")

async def handle_data(context, data):
    # only rows with knowledge_date <= current simulation time are visible
    latest = await context.ds.latest(
        assets=[context.asset], fields=['series_value', 'unit']
    )
    history = await context.ds.as_of(
        assets=[context.asset], fields=['series_value'],
        event_range=("2022-01-01", None),
    )
```

### Reading it outside ziplime (plain Polars + delta-rs)

```python
import polars as pl

T = "2025-06-01T00:00:00Z"          # "what was known at T"
lf = pl.scan_delta("hf://datasets/ZipLime/macro-indicators/data/data_bundle/yahoo_finance_daily_data/1784755946/data.delta")
as_of = (
    lf.filter(pl.col("knowledge_date") <= T)
      .sort("knowledge_date")
      .group_by(["entity_id", "event_date"], maintain_order=True)
      .last()
)
print(as_of.collect())
```

Delta time-travel (`AS OF <version>`) pins the table for reproducibility; the
`knowledge_date <= T` filter is what enforces point-in-time. They compose: a backtest records
`(dataset, delta_version)` and replays read the table at that version *and* apply the filter.

## Updates

`recipe.py` implements the collection contract `fetch(since: datetime) -> pl.DataFrame` in the
PIT schema above; `ingest.py` dedups and **appends** to the Delta bundle (never rewrites).
The scheduled job in `.github/workflows/update.yml` runs it daily, ingesting new releases and revision vintages.

```python
# recipe.py (contract)
async def fetch(since: datetime) -> "pl.DataFrame": ...
```

## Knowledge-date convention

`knowledge_date` = the release timestamp of that vintage. Macro data is the textbook revision case: an initial GDP print and its later revisions share `(entity_id, event_date)` but differ in `knowledge_date`. `as_of(T)` returns the vintage that was actually on the wire at T — the number a strategy could have traded on — not the revised figure that only exists today.

## What's in this repo

```
README.md                     # this card
manifest.json                 # PIT dataset manifest (schema, source, schedule)
recipe.py                     # fetch(since) -> PIT rows
ingest.py                     # dedup + append-only Delta writer
.github/workflows/update.yml  # scheduled ingestion
data/                         # ziplime Delta bundle + registry manifest
  bundle_registry/yahoo_finance_daily_data_1784755946.json
  data_bundle/yahoo_finance_daily_data/1784755946/data.delta/
```

The `data/` bundle is a ready-to-load ziplime Delta Lake market-data bundle (five US equity
tickers, daily bars) that seeds the pipeline and lets you exercise the loader end-to-end
today. Point `pl.scan_delta` (above) at it, or register it with ziplime's
`FileSystemBundleRegistry`.

---

<sub>Generated for the ziplime PIT data-layer prototype. Manifest and schema follow the
ziplime PIT spec; `source.*` fields declare origin and license per the dataset manifest.</sub>