The Chicago Federal Reserve has released its National Activity Index for the month of April. Unfortunately, the move was in the wrong direction. April saw the drop down to -0.53 from an already negative report of -0.23 from March. Today’s report sounds like yet another negative economic one, but the good news for the market is that investors tend to overlook this one report compared to other national and super-regional reports.
Source: Thinkstock
The three-month moving average was also negative at -0.04 in April, but this is actually less bad than the -0.05 average reported back in March.
Today’s data is a weighted average of 85 different economic indicators. The design is to indicate that a reading above zero is positive and resembling growth. A negative reading represents economic contraction.
Over the weekend came news that Ben Bernanke was calling for more innovation to rescue the economy.
Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)
Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.
Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.
Click here now to get started.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Editors' Picks
