The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's monthly gauge of U.S. economic activity unexpectedly rebounded in August as all four broad economic categories making up the index improved month over month while three of the four categories contributed negatively to the index.
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index, a weighted average of 85 individual economic indicators, posted a reading of positive 0.10 in August from a downwardly revised reading of negative 0.41 in the prior month. A negative index reading indicates below-average growth.
The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was for an index reading of negative 0.06 in August.
The improvement in the index was primarily led by improvements in production-related indicators, which contributed positive 0.16 to the index in August, up from a downwardly revised contribution of negative 0.26 in July.
The contribution of the sales, orders and inventories category edged up to negative 0.02 compared with July's downwardly revised contribution of negative 0.07.
Employment-related indicators contributed negative 0.02 to the index in August, compared with the prior month's contribution that was downwardly revised to negative 0.05.
Personal consumption and housing indicators contributed negative 0.02 to the index, up from an upwardly revised contribution of negative 0.03 registered in the previous month.
Overall, 44 of the 85 individual indicators contributed positively to the index and the rest contributed negatively.
The index's three-month moving average edged up to negative 0.12 in August from the downwardly revised average of negative 0.20 in the three months to July.
