FYI: If there is an economic indicator that has been especially weak over the last several months it has been the Empire Manufacturing report. Heading into Monday, the report had come in weaker than expected in each of the last four and seven of the last eight months. Additionally, over the last three years the report was weaker than expected 25 times. In other words, the report misses consensus forecasts more than two-thirds of the time. After Monday’s report, you can make it five straight weaker than expected reports. While economists were forecasting a level of 6.00 for June, which would have been up from 3.09, the actual reading came in at -1.98, taking it back into contraction territory. While the negative reading in the headline index is a bummer, this indicator is one of the more volatile ones we track.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/empire-manufacturing-comes-up-short-again/
