by Calculated Risk on 9/15/2011 10:10:00 AM

First, from the WSJ: Central Banks Boost Dollar Liquidity

The ECB said that it will be joined by U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank to conduct three U.S. dollar liquidity-providing operations.

The action addresses an acute shortage of dollar availability as U.S. lenders withheld funds [from European banks] ... The new dollar tenders, under which banks will be able to bid for unlimited funds, will have a maturity of approximately three months covering the end of the year, the ECB said.

From the Philly Fed: September 2011 Business Outlook Survey

The survey's broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, increased from a very low reading of -30.7 in August to -17.5 in September. The index has been negative in three of the last four months (see Chart). The current new orders index paralleled the general activity index, increasing 16 points and remaining negative. The current shipments index fell 9 points.
...
Firms' responses suggest a slight improvement in hiring this month compared with August. The current employment index increased 11 points, after recording its first negative reading in 12 months in August. Over 22 percent of the firms reported an increase in employment, but 16 percent reported a decrease. The percentage of firms reporting a shorter workweek (23 percent) remained greater than the percentage reporting a longer one (9 percent).

This indicates contraction in September and was slightly below the consensus forecast of -15.0.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index. The dashed green line is an average of the NY Fed (Empire State) and Philly Fed surveys through September. The ISM and total Fed surveys are through August.

The average of the Empire State and Philly Fed surveys rebounded in September, but is still well below zero - possibly indicating a further decline in the ISM index.