Monthly macro memo to Notion
On the first business day of every month, get a clean one-page memo summarizing the latest US economic data and analyst narrative, filed in Notion.
FRED (St. Louis Fed)
Perplexity AI
NotionFinanceOperationsAI ReportsResearch & MonitoringContent GenerationBuild me an agent workflow that produces a monthly one-page US macro memo and publishes it to Notion. Trigger: cron, fires at 7:00 AM America/New_York on the first business day of each month (skip Saturday, Sunday, and US federal holidays).
Integrations: FRED (St. Louis Fed), Perplexity AI, Notion. The Notion database ID where memos should be filed is a workflow input the user provides at setup.
Step 1: Pull the latest observation and the prior-12-month window for the following FRED series using Get Series Observations (series IDs are canonical, case-sensitive). Activity: INDPRO, GDPC1. Labor: PAYEMS, UNRATE, ICSA, AHETPI. Inflation: CPIAUCSL, PCEPI, CPILFESL. Consumer: RSAFS, UMCSENT. Housing: HOUST, MORTGAGE30US, CSUSHPISA. Rates: DFF, DGS10, T10Y2Y. For each series compute the latest value, the month-over-month change, and the year-over-year change. Use the series' native frequency (do not force aggregation). Coerce missing values (FRED returns the literal string ".") before math.
Step 2: Call Perplexity AI Create Chat Completion with a sonar-pro model to gather the prevailing macro narrative. Ask for: (a) the most recent FOMC statement language and any change vs the prior statement, (b) the current consensus rate path implied by fed funds futures, (c) two to four notable pieces of analyst or strategist commentary from the past month. Require citations. Constrain the search to roughly the last 35 days.
Step 3: Draft the memo. Open with a 2-3 sentence lead paragraph that highlights the two or three most notable indicator moves this month (largest surprises vs trend). Then six sections with short prose plus the relevant indicator readings: Activity, Labor, Inflation, Consumer, Housing, Outlook. Outlook weaves in the Perplexity narrative (Fed, rate path, analyst views). Finish with a Sources section listing the Perplexity citations as links.
Step 4: Publish via Notion Create a Page as a child of the provided database. Page title format: "Macro Memo — {Month YYYY}" (e.g. "Macro Memo — July 2026"). Set a Date property to the run date if the database has one; otherwise just create the page. The memo body should be rendered as Notion blocks (heading_2 per section, paragraph for prose, a simple bulleted_list_item per indicator reading, and a bookmark or paragraph with link for each source). Keep it to roughly one page when read in Notion.
Tone: concise, analyst-grade, no hype, no emojis. Numbers carry units (%, k, bps). Do not invent figures or citations: every number must come from the FRED pull, every claim in Outlook must trace to a Perplexity citation.
Additional information
What does this prompt do?
- Pulls the latest readings for the 17 indicators most analysts watch (growth, jobs, inflation, consumer, housing, rates) and computes month-over-month and year-over-year changes.
- Gathers the current macro narrative from the web, including recent Fed language, consensus rate path, and notable analyst commentary, with sources cited.
- Drafts a structured memo with sections for Activity, Labor, Inflation, Consumer, Housing, and Outlook, leading with the two or three biggest changes.
- Publishes the finished memo as a dated child page in your Notion macro database, with citations linked at the bottom.
What do I need to use this?
- A FRED account (free) for the economic data.
- A Perplexity AI account for the narrative research.
- A Notion workspace with a database where the memos should be filed, shared with your Notion connection.
How can I customize it?
- Swap the indicator list to match your coverage. Add commodity prices, FX, credit spreads, or sector specifics, or drop ones you do not track.
- Change the schedule, the audience, or the tone. Monthly is the default but quarterly or post-FOMC also work.
- Reshape the memo. Add a one-line CIO summary at the top, a watchlist for next month, or a chart links section.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the economic data come from?
How does it know what the market is thinking?
Where does the memo end up?
Can I add or remove indicators?
What if I want it weekly instead of monthly?
Related templates
Stop hand-stitching the monthly macro update.
Connect FRED, Perplexity, and Notion once, and Geni files a fresh memo on the first business day of every month.