CHICAGO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) fell slightly from -0.25 in January to -0.29 in February.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported on Monday that two of the four broad categories of indicators that make up the index decreased from January, and three of the four categories made negative contributions to the index in February.
The contribution from production-related indicators to the CFNAI moved up to -0.16 in February from -0.29 in January. Manufacturing industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in February after falling 0.5 percent in January. The sales, orders, and inventories category made a contribution of +0.03 to the CFNAI in February, up slightly from +0.01 in January.
Employment-related indicators contributed -0.10 to the CFNAI in February, down from +0.07 in January. Total non-farm payrolls increased by 20,000 in February after rising by 311,000 in the previous month. The contribution of the personal consumption and housing category to the CFNAI edged down to -0.06 in February from -0.03 in January.
The CFNAI is a monthly index designed to gauge overall economic activity and related inflationary pressure. The index is a weighted average of 85 indicators of growth in national economic activity drawn from four broad categories of data: production and income; employment, unemployment, and hours; personal consumption and housing; and sales, orders, and inventories.
Meanwhile, The CFNAI Diffusion Index, which is a three-month moving average, decreased to -0.05 in February from +0.12 in January. Enditem
