The Federal Reserve closely examines macroeconomics because its goals--maximum sustainable employment and stable inflation--are measured and achieved on an economywide level, not on an individual level. A 1+ minute video is included.
The emphasis is on how the nature of the markets for foreign exchange and for exports and imports sets the stage for government policy and determines the macroeconomic effects of external and internal shocks.
International Financial Statistics, by the International Monetary Fund, lists data by country and by indicator (for example, exchange rates, GDP, interest rates).
In macroeconomics, recessions are officially recognized after two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth rates. This website is from the Corporate Finance Institute.
"The Great Depression is the Holy Grail of macroeconomics. . . ." SOURCE: Scholarly article: Bernanke, B. S. (1995). The Macroeconomics of the Great Depression: A Comparative Approach. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 27(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/2077848