Richmond Fed Manufacturing: Softened In September

Fifth District manufacturing activity softened in September, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite index fell from 1 in August to -9 in September. Investing.com had forecast 2. Because of the highly volatile nature of this index, we include a 3-month moving average to facilitate the identification of trends, now at -6.7, which indicates contraction. 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.

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Here is the latest Richmond Fed manufacturing overview.

Fifth District manufacturing activity softened in September, according to the most recent survey from the Richmond Fed. The composite index dropped from 1 in August to −9 in September, as both shipments and new orders fell. However, the third component, employment, rose. Firms also reported a drop in backlog of orders and weakening local business conditions but were optimistic that conditions would improve in the coming months.

Survey results indicated wage growth and a slight increase in employment in the manufacturing sector in September. However, firms struggled to find workers with the necessary skills, and the indicator for the average workweek hit a nine-year-low. Manufacturers expected wages and employment to continue to grow but finding workers to continue to be a struggle in the next six months.

Growth of prices paid by survey respondents held fairly steady in September, while the growth rate of prices received increased, narrowing the gap between the two. Firms expected growth of both prices paid and prices received to slow in the near future. Link to Report

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

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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).

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

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

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