The Kansas City Fed is out with their monthly survey:
- Composite index for October remains at -8 versus -8 last month.
- Manufacturing index came in at -8.0 versus -13.0 last month
A summary from the KC Fed:
In October, the month-over-month composite index remained unchanged at -8, compared to September, and was down from 0 in August. This composite index is an average of various economic indicators, including production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory.
Durable goods manufacturing experienced a greater decline compared to nondurable goods, but both sectors declined at a similar pace as the previous month. Most of the month-over-month indexes were in negative territory. Production, shipments, order backlog, and new orders all declined to some extent. Employment saw a slight decrease, while the average employee workweek remained steady. Inventories remained unchanged from the previous month.
On a year-over-year basis, factory activity declined at a similar pace, with the composite index improving slightly to -11 in October from -12 in September and -9 in August. Key indicators like production, new orders, shipment volume, backlogs, and capital expenditures all continued to decline. The future composite index remained at 1 in October, showing a slight decrease from 2 in August, reflecting firms’ expectations for increased production despite some softening in other economic indicators.