Chicago Fed: Manufacturing Dropped in September

There is another economic report to digest ahead of closed markets this Monday. The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index fell by 0.4% in the month of September. The new reading is down to a seasonally adjusted level of 93.4, with 2007 as the par benchmark. Revised data show that the index was down 1.8% in the month of August.

The Federal Reserve Board’s industrial production index for manufacturing actually did manage to show a gain in the month of September, but only by 0.2%. The Chicago Fed said that regional output rose 8.5% in September from a year earlier, and national output increased 3.5%.

One issue that stood out was that the region’s auto sector production declined by 2.2% in September, after falling by some 5.3% in August. This is while the Midwest’s automotive output was up 16.4% in September on a year-over-year basis, and while national automotive output was up 9.4%. The Midwest’s machinery sector production fell by 0.3% in September, after moving down 0.2% in August. The region’s steel sector output declined 0.1% in September, following a 0.9% decrease in the previous month. And the Midwest resource sector’s output increased 0.9% in September, after it was unchanged in August.

The Midwest district includes the five states comprising Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, and today’s report is a composite index of 15 manufacturing industries.

JON C. OGG