Philly Fed Survey For November

BUSINESS OUTLOOK           Previous
 SURVEY                  Diffusion             No              Diffusion
                          Index   Increase  Change   Decrease   Index

What is your evaluation
 of the level of general
 business activity?         -0.7      29.9     45.3      24.8      5.1

Company Business
 Indicators

New Orders                  13.4      29.5     37.3      33.2     -3.7

Shipments                    5.3      31.4     43.4      24.9      6.5

Unfilled Orders            -11.1      18.6     58.3      22.6     -3.9

Delivery Times              -9.4      18.9     68.1      13.0      5.9

Inventories                 13.2      27.6     49.2      23.2      4.4

Prices Paid                 32.0      35.7     54.2       9.0     26.7

Prices Received             17.8      16.5     72.7      10.8      5.7

Number of Employees          9.4      21.2     57.9      20.9      0.2

Average Employee Workweek   -2.0      22.3     52.3      21.9      0.4

What I notice most in this report is new orders went from 13.4 to -3.7. That is a substantial drop and signals additional concern for Christmas season in my estimation. Not necessarily because they make Barbie Dolls in the Philadelphia area. They don't. But, because that means Christmas season may be filled with angst about the future which could translate into lower spending.