National Activity Index signals slight economic improvement
The Chicago Federal Reserve's National Activity Index improves with uptick to a tepid 0.1.
The Chicago Federal Reserve's National Activity Index improves with uptick to a tepid 0.1.
The latest release of the聽Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index (CFNAI)聽indicated a slight improvement for the national economy with the index climbing to a tepid level of .10 from a notably weak level of -.64 in October while the three month moving average improved to a weak level of -0.20.聽
The CFNAI is a weighted average of 85 indicators of national economic activity collected into four overall categories of 鈥減roduction and income鈥�, 鈥渆mployment, unemployment and income鈥�, 鈥減ersonal consumption and housing鈥� and 鈥渟ales, orders and inventories鈥�.聽
The Chicago Fed regards a value of zero for the total index as indicating that the national economy is expanding at its historical trend rate while a negative value indicates below average growth.聽
A value at or below -0.70 for the three month moving average of the national activity index (CFNAI-MA3) indicates that the national economy has either just entered or continues in recession.聽