by Calculated Risk on 9/25/2014 11:10:00 AM

From the Kansas City Fed: Growth in Tenth District Manufacturing Activity Edged Higher

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released the September Manufacturing Survey today. According to Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the survey revealed that growth in Tenth District manufacturing activity edged higher, and producers’ expectations for future activity maintained their recent solid levels.

“We saw slightly faster growth this month after a sizable easing in August,” Wilkerson said. “This is despite continued sluggish activity in our important food processing segment, driven in part by higher beef costs this year.”

The month-over-month composite index was 6 in September, slightly higher than 3 in August but lower than 9 in July. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory indexes. ... The production index increased from 4 to 12, and the shipment index also grew from a reading of 2 in August to 14. The employment index increased significantly from -4 in the last survey period to 7 in September.
emphasis added

The last regional Fed manufacturing survey for September will be released on Monday, Sept 29th (the Dallas Fed). All of the regional surveys so far have indicated solid growth in September (three out of four higher than in August), and this suggests another strong reading for the ISM manufacturing survey.