From a small northwestern observatory…

While its focused on their region, the Philadelphia FED’s announcement this morning wasn’t good news, despite the spin they put on it. In short, the index declined significantly from October to November, albeit remaining in positive territory. To quote:

Responses to the Business Outlook Survey this month suggest that regional manufacturing is expanding, but at a slow pace. The survey’s broad indicators for activity, shipments, and new orders recorded positive readings this month, but all declined slightly from their October readings. Employment conditions improved, as indicated by increases in the indexes for employment and average workweek. The broadest indicator of future activity showed marked improvement, and firms were notably more optimistic about future employment.

In addition, inventories went up in the most recent survey, which is generally not very good news.

On the bright side, their survey of current and future activity is now at its highest level in quite some time, and future activity is also forecasted to continue strong. Hopefully, the October-to-November decline is simply a seasonal abberation, and not a long-term trend.

Courtesy, Philadelphia FED, November 17, 2011