Richmond Fed Tumbles Into Contraction, Confirms Regional Fed Survey Slump

Confirming the pessimistic plunges in Kansas City and Philadelphia, The Richmond Fed’s Manufacturing Survey disappointed, tumbling to -5 from -1 last month (and expectations of a bounce to +1).

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood was more worrisome:

• Shipments fell to -6 after -2 the prior month

• New order volume slowed to -13 after -3 the prior month

• Order backlogs were unchanged at -11 after -11 the prior month

• Capacity utilization slowed to -12 after 2 the prior month

• Inventory levels of finished goods increased to 22 after 15 last month

• Inventory levels of raw goods rose to 21 after 20 last month

So, inventories up, new orders and shipments tumbling?! Doesn’t sound like a renaissance in America to us.

And the average workweek crashed to its worst since April 2009…

Source: Bloomberg

Of course, as long as the PMIs are rebounding no one will pay attention to this… yet