January’s construction spending, February’s CFNAI, et al
It appears that the January report on Construction Spending was the only widely watched economic report released last week, not surprising given the 13 monthly releases over the prior two weeks, and as we are still lagging a normal schedule on about half of the usual monthly releases in the wake of last October’s shutdown…this week also saw the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) for February , a weighted composite index of 85 different economic metrics, which fell to –0.11 in February from +0.20 in January..…even with that February decrease, the more widely watched 3 month average of the CFNAI increased to –0.01 in February from –0.02 in January, which, as a negative figure near zero, indicates that national economic activity has been near the historical trend over the winter months.. The week also saw the results of two more regional Fed manufacturing surveys for March… the Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity , covering an area that includes Virginia, Maryland, the...