by Calculated Risk on 1/26/2012 02:31:00 PM

Catching up ...

• Kansas City Fed: Tenth District Manufacturing Activity Rebounded in January

The month-over-month composite index was 7 in January, up from revised totals of -2 in December and 4 in November. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory indexes. ... The production and shipments indexes jumped to their highest levels since June, and the new orders index climbed from -2 to 8.

All of the regional manufacturing surveys have indicated stronger expansion in January (Empire state, Philly, Richmond and Kansas City). The Dallas Fed survey is scheduled to be released on Monday.

• The Chicago Fed released the national activity index (a composite index of other indicators): Index shows economic activity improved in December

Led by improvements in production- and employment-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index increased to +0.17 in December from –0.46 in November. ...
The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, increased from –0.19 in November to –0.08 in December—its highest value since March 2011. December’s CFNAI-MA3 suggests that growth in national economic activity was slightly below its historical trend. The economic slack reflected in this level of the CFNAI-MA3 suggests limited inflationary pressure from economic activity over the coming year.

This graph shows the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (three month moving average) since 1967.

Click on graph for larger image.

According to the Chicago Fed:

A zero value for the index indicates that the national economy is expanding at its historical trend rate of growth; negative values indicate below-average growth; and positive values indicate above-average growth.

• From the Philly Fed:

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the coincident indexes for the 50 states for December 2011. In the past month, the indexes increased in 39 states, decreased in seven, and remained unchanged in four (Arizona, Nebraska, New York, and Wyoming) for a one-month diffusion index of 64.

This is a graph is of the number of states with one month increasing activity according to the Philly Fed. This graph includes states with minor increases (the Philly Fed lists as unchanged).

In December, 42 states had increasing activity, down from 44 in November.

Note: These are coincident indexes constructed from state employment data. From the Philly Fed:

The coincident indexes combine four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). The trend for each state’s index is set to the trend of its gross domestic product (GDP), so long-term growth in the state’s index matches long-term growth in its GDP.

Here is a map of the three month change in the Philly Fed state coincident indicators. This map was all red during the worst of the recession, and all green in early 2011 - but this is an improvement from last summer.