by Calculated Risk on 9/25/2012 02:00:00 PM

From the Philly Fed:

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the coincident indexes for the 50 states for August 2012. In the past month, the indexes increased in 25 states, decreased in 12 states, and remained stable in 13 states, for a one-month diffusion index of 26. Over the past three months, the indexes increased in 28 states, decreased in 16 states, and remained stable in six states, for a three-month diffusion index of 24.

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.

Click on graph for larger image.

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 August, 32 states had increasing activity, up from 26 in July. The last four months have been weak following eight months of widespread growth geographically.


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 the map was all green just earlier this year.

Now there are a number of red states again.

Earlier on house prices:
• Case-Shiller: House Prices increased 1.2% year-over-year in July
• House Price Comments, Real House Prices, Price-to-Rent Ratio