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People stand in a bookkeeping shop with sheets of plastic protecting workers near the U.S.-Mexico border in Imperial County, California, which had been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
The numbers: The Chicago Fed’s national activity index, which is designed to gauge overall U.S. economic activity, fell to 0.27 in September from a revised 1.11 in the prior month. The index’s three-month moving average, which tries to smooth out volatility, moved down to 1.33 from 3.22 in August.
A zero value of the index indicates the national economy is expanding at its historic trend rate of growth.
The August reading was revised from an initial reading of 0.79.
What happened: The Chicago Fed index is a weighted average of 85 economic indicators. Fifty of the indicators made positive contributions.
Production-related indicators subtracted 0.24 to the index in September. The contribution of sales, orders and inventories added 0.07, down from 0.10 in August.
Big picture: This is the third straight weaker reading in the index. It fits with worries that the economy is faltering after a burst of activity earlier in the summer. Additional fiscal support for the economy still seems blocked in Congress.
Market reaction: Stock-index futures pointed to a lower start on Wall Street on Monday with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.09% pointing to a 300-point decline.
