Richmond Fed manufacturing index for January 2021
- Prior report
- manufacturing activity index falls to 14 from 19 in December.
- Index remains in the expansionary territory
- shipments 10 vs. 12 last month
- new orders 12 vs. 24 last month
- unemployment 23 vs. 20
- wages 21 vs. 32
- average workweek 10 vs. 16
- backlog of orders 6 vs. 17
- capacity utilization for verse 15
- vendor leadtime 39 vs. 31
- local business conditions 10 vs. 4
- capital expenditures 5 vs. 8 last month
- finished goods is inventory -6 vs. 7 last month
- raw materials inventories 4 vs. 5 last month
- equipment and software spending -5 vs. 4 last month
- service expenditures -8 vs. -1 last month
- prices paid 3.1% vs. 2.1% last month. Prices changes are expressed as percentage change, annualized
- prices received 2.09% vs. 1.76% last month. Prices changes are expressed as a percentage change, annualized
- full report
comments from the Richmond Fed:
- Manufacturers reported lengthening vendor lead times, as this index rose to 39, its highest reading since January 1996. Overall, manufacturers were optimistic that conditions would continue to improve in the coming months.
- Survey results indicated that many manufacturers increased employment and wages in January. However, respondents struggled to find workers with the necessary skills. Firms expected this difficulty to persist but employment and wages to rise in the next six months.
- The average growth rates of both prices paid and prices received by survey participants increased in January, as growth of prices paid continued to outpace that of prices received. Respondents expected this trend to continue in the near future
