Richmond Fed Manufacturing: Activity Improved in March

Fifth District manufacturing activity improved in March, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite index rose from 1 in February to 13 in March and indicates expansion.

The complete data series behind today's Richmond Fed manufacturing report, which dates from November 1993, is available here.

Here is a snapshot of the complete Richmond Fed Manufacturing Composite series.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Here is an excerpt from the latest Richmond Fed manufacturing overview:

Fifth District manufacturing activity improved in March, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index increased from 1 in February to 13 in March, with increases in all three of the component indexes — shipments, volume of new orders, and number of employees. Notably, the shipments index increased from 11 in February to 9 in March. The volume of new orders also increased from -- 3 in February to 10 in March. Link to Report

Here is a somewhat closer look at the index since the turn of the century.

Is today's Richmond composite a clue of what to expect in the next PMI composite? We'll find out when the next ISM Manufacturing survey is released (below).

Let's compare all five Regional Manufacturing indicators. Here is a three-month moving average overlay of each since 2001 (for those with data).

Here is the same chart including the average of the five.