by Calculated Risk on 9/21/2006 12:27:00 PM

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released September’s Business Outlook Survey today. Here are some excerpts:

Click on graph for larger image.

Growth Stalls this Month

The survey’s broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, dropped from 18.5 in August to -0.4 this month. This is the first negative reading in the index since April 2003, although the index registered a zero reading in June 2005. [see chart] ...

Six-Month Forecast Falls Significantly

Expectations for future manufacturing growth fell sharply this month. Indicators for future activity, new orders, shipments, and employment all declined from their August readings. The future general activity index fell from 7.4 to -0.2, its first negative reading since January 2001

But perhaps the most interesting result was the answer to the special question:

"Do you expect the following capital expenditure categories in 2007 to be higher than, lower than, or the same as in the current year?"

Overall manufacturers currently have lower expectations for investment in all categories as compared to December 2005, especially investment in structures. This is important because many analysts have pinned their hopes for an economic soft landing on future business investment. And the steep drop in anticipated structure investment is especially critical since it was hoped that jobs lost in residential construction would move to nonresidential construction. Of course this is only for manufacturers, and the survey only covers the Third Federal Reserve District.