Today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond released their Survey of Manufacturing Activity for August showing that the composite index, the broadest measure of manufacturing activity, declined 9 points to a notably weak level of -10.
The most notable component measures also showed similar results with the new orders dropping to -11, shipments declining to -17 and backlog of orders plunging to -25.
The following chart plots the composite index with the red line marking a level of 0, or the threshold between increasing and declining activity.
