The Philly Fed's Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey is a monthly report for the Third Federal Reserve District, covers eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. While it focuses exclusively on business in this district, this regional survey gives a generally reliable clue as to direction of the broader Chicago Fed's National Activity Index.
The latest gauge of General Activity came in at -5.9, down from last month's 1.9. The 3-month moving average came in at -2.8, up from -2.9 last month. Since this is a diffusion index, negative readings indicate contraction, positive ones indicate expansion. The six-Month Outlook was up at 23.0, versus the previous month's 43.4.
Today's -5.9 came in well below the 1.5 forecast at Investing.com.
Here is the introduction from the survey released today:
Manufacturing conditions in the region weakened this month, according to firms responding to the December Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. The indicator for general activity, which was slightly positive last month, fell into negative territory. The indexes for new orders and shipments were mixed. Firms reported slight increases in overall employment this month and an increase in average work hours compared with November. Manufactured goods prices, as well as input prices, declined this month. Nearly all of the survey’s future indicators showed notable weakening this month. (Full Report)
The first chart below gives us a look at this diffusion index since 2000, which shows us how it has behaved in proximity to the two 21st century recessions. The red dots show the indicator itself, which is quite noisy, and the 3-month moving average, which is more useful as an indicator of coincident economic activity. We can see periods of contraction in 2011 and 2012 and a shallower contraction in 2013.
In the next chart we see the complete series, which dates from May 1960. For proof of the high volatility of the headline indicator, note that the average absolute monthly change across this data series is 7.7.
The next chart is an overlay of the General Activity Index and the Future General Activity Index — the outlook six months ahead.
For comparison, here is the latest ISM Manufacturing survey.
Let's compare all five Regional Manufacturing indicators. Here is a three-month moving average overlay of each since 2001 (for those with data).
Here is the same chart including the average of the five. Readers will notice the range in expansion and contraction between all regions - this averages out to approximately zero for the average, which is flat and neither expanding nor contracting.
