by Calculated Risk on 9/26/2019 11:00:00 AM

From the Kansas City Fed: Tenth District Manufacturing Edged Down in September

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 Tenth District manufacturing activity edged down in September, and expectations for future activity moderated but remained positive.

“Regional factory activity continued to decline in September, though not as much as last month,” said Wilkerson. “Although the employment index dropped further this month, firms as a whole indicated 2019 employment expectations have increased slightly since the beginning of the year.”
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The month-over-month composite index was -2 in September, up slightly from -6 in August and similar to -1 in July. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory indexes. The dip in manufacturing activity was driven by continued declines at durable goods plants, especially from decreases in nonmetallic mineral products, primary metal, computer and electronic products, and transportation equipment manufacturing. While the month-over-month employment index dropped further in September, the production and shipments indexes rebounded considerably. Year-over-year factory indexes were somewhat mixed in September, but the composite index was unchanged at -1. The future composite index remained positive, but slowed from 9 to 5, the lowest future composite index since May 2016.
emphasis added

Another weak regional manufacturing report.