Wednesday, August 26, 2009 3:25:02 AM EDT
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by Jim Brown
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The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey failed to post a gain but held the big gain we saw in July. The headline number came in at 14 once again. The low was -51 back in February. The shipments component rose +5 points to 21 and capacity utilization rose +8 points to 22. Keeping the survey from posting those gains was a decline of -6 points to 18 on the new orders and a decline in the six-month outlook from 27 to 20. In the Richmond survey any number over zero is considered expansion so there is improvement in the region. In the chart below the current economic activity has rebounded to levels of pre recession activity seen from 2006-2007. This is not strong growth at only 14 points over recession levels but still growth.
