Richmond Fed Manufacturing: Expansion Continues In April

Fifth District manufacturing activity continued its expansion in April, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index stood at 14 in April compared to 13 in March.

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.

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

Fifth District manufacturing activity continued its expansion in April, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index stood at 14 in April compared to 13 in March. Shipments increased to 17 from 9, while the volume of new orders moved down slightly to 6 from 10. Despite expansionary activity, firms remained pessimistic about current business conditions. Additionally, survey participants expect business conditions to deteriorate in the next six months, which is the third time in the history of the survey that this expectations index has been negative the other two times were at the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. 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).