The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s manufacturing gauge fell by a record as shipments and new orders weakened, the fourth district bank factory index to drop this month and the latest evidence that President Donald Trump’s trade war is becoming a greater headwind for U.S. producers.
The Richmond Fed said Wednesday that its measure of factory activity across a swath of the eastern U.S. fell to minus 8, missing all economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey projecting an increase to 15. Levels greater than zero signal growth. The 22-point drop from the prior month was the most in data going back a quarter century.
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Other recent data showed the Kansas City Fed’s index of manufacturing in the district fell to a two-year low in December. The New York Fed’s Empire State survey and Philadelphia’s report are the lowest in more than 18 months.
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Economists also are projecting a fifth Fed manufacturing index to retreat this month. The Dallas reserve bank’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey, due for release on Dec. 31, will decline to an 18-month low of 17, according to Bloomberg’s survey, from 17.6 in November.
