Fifth District manufacturing activity softened in January, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite index fell from 16 in December to 8 in January 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.

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

Fifth District manufacturing activity softened somewhat in January, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite index fell from 16 in December to 8 in January, due to declines in the indexes for new orders and employment. The third component in the composite index, the index for shipments, increased slightly to 14 in January from 12 in December. The backlog of orders index dropped considerably in January, while the index for vendor lead time remained high and inventories indexes remained near historic lows. Firms ’ perceptions about changes in local business conditions remained slightly negative; however, firms are optimistic about future conditions. 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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