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Chicago Business Barometer™ - Softened to 44.1 in September

US DATA

The Chicago Business Barometer™, produced with MNI, fell back -4.6 points to 44.1 from 48.7 in August, partially reversing the rebound seen in last month’s data.

  • New Orders, Production and Employment were the biggest downside drivers while Order Backlogs limited the downward move and Supplier Deliveries also moved a little higher.
  • New Orders dropped -17.6 points. This was the sixth biggest decline since the series began in 1967, and the largest since April 2020. We have also only seen one reading lower than this since June 2020.
  • Production fell -6.0 points to 51.1, just about remaining in expansive territory and reversing half of the increase seen in August.
  • Employment fell -3.8 points to 44.5.
  • Order Backlogs increased +10.5 points to its highest level since April 2023.
  • Supplier Deliveries improved +2.6 points.
  • Prices Paid more than reversed last month’s large increase, falling -14.5 points to 59.5. With the exception of June 2023, this is the lowest Prices Paid reading since August 2020.
  • Inventories marginally increased by +0.2 points.

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