Recent Updates
- Canada: Intl Transactions in Securities (Oct)
- US: Empire State Mfg Survey (Dec)
- Albania: Consolidated General Government Budget (Nov)
- Spain: Services Price Indexes, Employment and Wages of Large Firms (Oct)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Import and Export Prices Increase
Import prices rose 0.2% during November (-1.3% y/y)...
U.S. Business Inventories Rise While Sales Slip
Total business inventories increased 0.2% (3.1% y/y) during October...
Friday 13 of December 2019: An unlucky day for Japan’s Tankan
The manufacturing barometer, which is considered the bellwether of this index, fell to zero in Q4 2019 from 5 in Q3...
U.S. Financial Accounts Show Larger Government Borrowing, Somewhat Less Household Borrowing
Total borrowing in U.S. financial markets rose to $4,266 billion in Q3 2019...
U.S. Producer Prices Are Unexpectedly Tame; Core Prices Weaken
The Producer Price Index for final demand was unchanged during November (1.1% y/y)...
by Charles Steindel October 30, 2018
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's estimates of state coincident activity, like the state job numbers, suggest that September saw some slowing in the pace of growth in large portions of the nation. 10 states are reported to have experienced declines in activity in the month (albeit, in numbers of cases, extremely small). Only 5 states saw increases of more than .5 percent. While monthly changes can be erratic, over the last 3 months 5 states (Maine, Vermont, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Hawaii) clocked declines. 16 states did see gains of more than 1 percent over this period, but this count is down from the number shown in the preliminary August report. South Carolina was one of those strong states, which suggests that Florence did not have that sharp a negative impact there. However, North Carolina, not surprisingly, was a state that reported a decline from August to September, and its growth over the last three months has been meager.
Over the last year 10 states, largely but not exclusively in the western half of the nation, grew more than 4 percent (and California and Florida both had 3.99 percent gains). Maine had the smallest increase, of 1.35 percent. So the overall picture remains one of decent, widespread, advances in activity. Still, September is the second consecutive month where the latest numbers in this series are a bit less ebullient.