The Richmond Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity: May 2011

Today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond released their Survey of Manufacturing Activity showing that the composite index, the broadest measure of manufacturing activity, fell 16 points to a weak level of -6.

The most notable component measures also showed similar poor results with the new orders dropping 25 points to -15, shipments declined 19 points to -13 and backlog of orders declined 20 points to -19.

The following chart plots the composite index with the red line marking a level of 0, or the threshold between increasing and declining activity.