Richmond Federal Reserve Survey

Hoping everyone is enjoying some time off with family and friends or a reduced work week. As I mentioned before the holidays, this week would be a light posting week.

Today the Richmond Fed released data which validated my suspicions of a weak holiday season.

• Seasonally adjusted manufacturing index decreased to -6 from November’s reading of 7
• Shipments lost ten points to -4
• New orders fell fourteen points to -8
• The jobs index moved down fifteen points to -5
• The capacity utilization index turned negative, losing twelve points to finish at -11
• Orders backlogs indicator shed five points to -16
• Vendor delivery times edged down three points to -1
• Raw materials inventories was somewhat higher, gaining six points to 20.
• Finished goods inventories index trimmed three points to 12.