This morning, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago released November 2012 figures for the Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI), an index that uses hours worked data as a measure of industry output in the Midwest region (IL, IN, IA, MI, WI).
The overall CFMMI increased 1.6% in November to a seasonally adjusted level of 93.7 (2007 = 100); also, revised data show that the index was down 1.1% between September (93.2) and October (92.2). Regional and national output increased in November from a year earlier by 7.3% and 3.1% respectively. Between October and November 2012, production in all four regional sectors increased:
- +3.6% auto sector (plastics and rubber products, transportation equipment)
- +0.9% steel sector (primary metal industries, fabricated metal products)
- +0.7% resource sector (food, paper, wood products, chemicals and nonmetallic mineral products)
- +0.2% machinery sector (machinery, computers, & electronic equipment, appliances and components manufacturing)
The full press release can be found online.
