Richmond Manufacturing Index
Categories: Econ
Fun fact: there’s only one Federal Reserve, but there are 12 Federal Reserve Districts. The U.S. is just too darn big, so layers of bureaucracy is the way to go, apparently.
Anyway, the Richmond Manufacturing Index covers manufacturing data from the 5th Federal Reserve District. That includes West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, plus the whole area surrounding Washington D.C. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond conducts surveys to get this data (and has since 1993).
What kind of manufacturing data? The basics: numbers of orders and shipments, employment...that kind of thing. It’s a diffusion index, meaning variables are expressed as the percent change between the last reporting and this period’s reporting. For example, shipments are down 5%, and employment is down 6%.
Traders might check the Richmond Manufacturing Index to get a sneak peak into the manufacturing sector before the Institute for Supply Management releases their manufacturing report, which comes out soon after the Richmond Manufacturing Index. It, along with other indexes, are often analyzed for signs of impending doom. Er...impending inflation.
