24/7 Wall St.

One report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is the National Activity Index for the month of December, which was released this morning. It is somewhat misleading by the name because it is a regional Federal Reserve branch issuing the report but it is a national report.

The index came to only 0.02 in December. Bloomberg had a consensus reading of 0.28 and a range from economists of 0.10 to 0.50. The reading in November was 0.27. The three-month average increased marginally but remained in negative territory at -0.11.

Of the four components making up the index, two were positive. Employment stood out at 0.09, versus a prior reading of -0.02. The lagging areas were in consumption and housing and in production.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) is a monthly index designed to measure overall economic activity and inflationary pressure. It is a weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of national economic activity. A reading above zero is positive and a reading below zero is negative.

The full report can be found here.