Monthly and weekly indicators of economic activity are helpful guides for monitoring changes in economic conditions. While Gardner Intelligence is pleased to share with manufacturers insights from the Gardner Business Index (GBI) each month, the WEI may be of significant help to our readers. In this article we discuss the Federal Reserve’s Weekly Economic Index (WEI).
March was the 12th month of contraction in the last 14. And, it was the fastest rate of month-over-month rate of contraction since October 2009.
The month-over-month rate of contraction for durable goods spending was -11.2%, which was the fastest rate of contraction since April 2009.
After increasing machine tool purchasing for the past two years, 12 of the top 15 machine tool consuming countries decreased in 2019 in the midst of a worldwide downturn. But in a sign of reshoring, the U.S. increased its share overall, and machine tool purchasing by Mexico increased.
According to the most recent survey conducted by Gardner Intelligence, 27% of manufacturers plan to invest in their business/facilities in the next six months with an additional 15% planning to invest after six months. Further, 90% of manufacturers say this is at least a moderate priority while 40% report it is a moderately high or very high priority.
April’s reading of 34.2 signaled that overall business activity conditions continued to slow further after falling sharply in March.
Real disposable income grew just 0.1% compared with one year ago and reached its lowest level since May 2019.
The percent of manufacturers that were closed dropped to 9% from 16% the week prior. That decrease was split between manufacturers open usual hours or expanded hours. Meanwhile, nearly 50% of manufacturers were operating with some level of reduced staff.
March housing permits were at their highest level since October 2019.
February cutting tool orders were $188.2 million, down 9.5% from one year ago.
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