The Chicago Federal Reserve reported
on Monday the Chicago Fed national activity index (CFNAI), a weighted average
of 85 different economic indicators, jumped to +0.76 in October from a downwardly
revised -0.18 in September (from -0.13), pointing to an expansion in economic
activity in the previous month. That was the highest figure since July.
At
the same time, the index’s three-month moving average slipped to +0.21 in October
from +0.22 in September.
According
to the report, all four broad categories of indicators used to construct the CFNAI
made positive contributions in October as well as demonstrated improvements
from the previous month. Production-related indicators contributed +0.44 to the
headline indicator in October, up from -0.35 in September. In addition, employment-related
indicators made a contribution of +0.24 to the CFNAI last month, up from +0.16
in September. Elsewhere, the contribution of the sales, orders and inventories
category to the CFNAI improved to +0.05 in October from +0.01 in the previous
month and that of personal consumption and housing category advanced to +0.03 from
+0.01 in September.