Briefcase Indicator: During Alan Greenspan’s tenure as Federal Reserve Chairman, CNBC started to analyze the thickness of Greenspan’s briefcase he carried into the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. If the briefcase was thin, the media guessed that there would not be a change in policy. If the briefcase was thick, the conjecture was that a change in monetary policy was going to be announced. While this theory did not always prove to be accurate, it does demonstrate the intense interest in any Fed action.

Source: Investopedia, CNBC