CFNAI Indicates Economic Growth Remained Slow in September
In September, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) remained below zero for a second month, largely as a result of weakness in the production- and employment-related data. The monthly index came in at –0.35 in September, up from –0.45 in August. This weakness in the monthly index caused the three-month moving average index, CFNAI-MA3, to fall to –0.25 in September from its upward revised value of –0.09 in August. Since the most recent business cycle peak in March 2001, the only positive value of the CFNAI-MA3 has been +0.07, which occurred in July 2002.
