Manufacturing workers at the LCI Industries glass components plant in Elkhart, Indiana. (Photo: AP)
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) came in at -0.31 in August instead of the 0.11 forecast, indicating Hurricane Harvey had an impact on factory activity. It’s the lowest monthly reading since August of last year and the three-month average, at -0.04, is only the second negative score this year.
Two of the 4 broad categories of indicators that make up the index fell from July, while 2 of the 4 categories made negative contributions to the index in August.
The CFNAI was constructed using data available as of September 21, 2017.
At that time, August data for 51 of the 85 indicators had been published. For all missing data, estimates were used in constructing the index. The July monthly index value was revised to +0.03 from an initial estimate of –0.01, and the June monthly index value was unchanged from last month’s estimate of +0.16.
Revisions to the monthly index were due to revisions in previously published data and the differences between the estimates of previously unavailable data and subsequently published data.
