Midwest Economic Index decreases to -0.35
The Chicago Federal Reserve released a monthly report on the state of the economy in the Midwest. The Index decreased from -.24 in August to -.35 in September. This is the second straight month the index has been negative.
Wisconsin came in with a score of -.06, which is the second best score in the Midwest (Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana) with Iowa taking the top spot at -.01. Wisconsin had the best manufacturing score of +.08, but indices in the construction, service and consumer industries continued to lag behind manufacturing.
It should be noted that the MEI peaked in April of this year at +.94, since then it has been on a steady decline, going negative that past two months. The score of -0.35 is the lowest score since February 2010. The Midwest Economic Index is a weighted average of 134 economic indicators from across the Midwest.