There are several reasons for the natural cycles in the financial markets. Chief among them are macroeconomic factors including inflation, interest rates, economic growth rates and unemployment levels. A drop in interest rates will commonly send markets higher as they are perceived to indicate economic growth. On the other hand, a rise in inflation is often an indicator of an impending rise in interest rates, causing contraction of the market and slowdown of economic growth. High unemployment levels also foreshadow economic slowdown, with falling unemployment indicating impending growth to investors. Market sentiment also plays an important part in determining the movement of market cycles. Due to a variety of factors, there may be a boom period where investors scramble to buy specific assets as well as periods where panic takes over the market, causing investors to sell in large quantities.