Philly Fed Future Expectations For Shipments/CapEx Near 'Worst Since Lehman' Levels

The headline Philly Fed Business Sector Outlook survey print was -9 in October, worse than the -7 expected, but a small bounce from the -13 print in September, as almost 35% of the firms reported decreases in general activity this month.

That is the end of the good news.

This is the index’s 15th negative reading in the past 17 months.

Source: Bloomberg

While general activity remained negative, indicators for new orders and shipments were positive but low, and and both price indexes indicate overall increases in prices. The percentage of firms reporting increases in input prices (29%) exceeded the percentage reporting decreases (6%).

However, it gets worse, as future indicators declined significantly.

The future new orders index decreased 7 points to 18.9, while the future shipments index dropped 25 points to 5.4, its lowest reading since May.

The future capital expenditures index fell from 7.5 to ‑4.8, offsetting its increase from last month.