November 2017 Philly Fed Manufacturing Survey Declined

Written by Steven Hansen

The Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey declined by remains in expansion. Key elements are in expansion but improved.

This is a very noisy index which readers should be reminded is sentiment based. The Philly Fed historically is one of the more negative of all the Fed manufacturing surveys but has been more positive then the others recently.

The index moved from +27.9 to 22.7. Positive numbers indicate market expansion, negative numbers indicate contraction. The market expected (from Bloomberg / Econoday) 23.0 to 26.5 (consensus +25.0).

Regional manufacturing activity continued to expand in November, according to results from this month’s Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. The indexes for general activity and shipments fell from their October readings but remained positive, while the survey’s index for new orders rose. The employment index fell but remained elevated. Almost all of the future indicators rose, and firms continue to expect growth in both activity and employment over the next six months.

Current Activity Continues to Expand

The diffusion index for current manufacturing activity in the region remained positive but decreased from a reading of 27.9 in October to 22.7 in November (see Chart). The index has been positive for 16 consecutive months. Nearly 35 percent of the firms indicated increases in activity this month, down slightly from October. The shipments index fell 3 points to 21.7, while the new orders index rose 2 points to 21.4. Both the delivery times and unfilled orders indexes remained positive, suggesting longer delivery times and increases in unfilled orders. In addition, the inventories index turned negative, falling 15 points to -8.6.

Firms continued to report increases in employment, though at a slower pace relative to last month. While the current employment index has been positive for 12 consecutive months, it fell 8 points to 22.6 in November. Almost 28 percent of the responding firms reported increases in employment, while 5 percent of the firms reported decreases. The average workweek index also fell, dropping 6 points to 13.7. This index has been positive for 13 consecutive months.

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Econintersect believes the important elements of this survey are new orders and unfilled orders . Both new orders and unfilled orders remain in expansion and improved.

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This index has many false recession warnings.

Summary of all Federal Reserve Districts Manufacturing:

Richmond Fed (hyperlink to reports):

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Kansas Fed (hyperlink to reports):

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Dallas Fed (hyperlink to reports):

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Philly Fed (hyperlink to reports):

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New York Fed (hyperlink to reports):

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Federal Reserve Industrial Production – Actual Data (hyperlink to report):

Holding this and other survey’s Econintersect follows accountable for their predictions, the following graph compares the hard data from Industrial Products manufacturing subindex (dark blue bar) and US Census manufacturing shipments (lighter blue bar) to the Philly Fed survey (yellow bar).

In the above graphic, hard data is the long bars, and surveys are the short bars. The arrows on the left side are the key to growth or contraction.

Caveats on the use of Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey:

This is a survey, a quantification of opinion – not facts and data. Surveys lead hard data by weeks to months, and can provide early insight into changing conditions. Econintersect finds they do not necessarily end up being consistent compared to hard economic data that comes later, and can miss economic turning points.

This survey is very noisy – and recently showed recessionary conditions. And it is understood from 3Q2011 GDP that the economy was expanding even though this index was in contraction territory. On the positive side, it hit the start and finish of the 2007 recession exactly.

No survey is accurate in projecting employment – and the Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey is no exception. Although there are some general correlation in trends, month-to-month movements have not correlated with the BLS Service Sector Employment data.

Over time, there is a general correlation with real business data – but month-to-month conflicts are frequent.

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