Even though in a centrally-planned world nobody cares about fundamental data anymore, and high frequency economics can't hold a candle to high frequency trading, today's Philly Fed was not good, missing expectations for the 5th month in a row, and printing in negative territory for the 4 month in a row, coming at -7.1 on expectations of -5.0, and down from -12.9. Sadly for the market, the data was not horrible enough to suggest that despite the seasonally adjusted economic data euphoria from earlier this wee, that the Chairsatan would surprise to the upside and preannounce MOAR NEW QE in 2 weeks. The data, however, was quite realistic, in that unlike BLS data which lately only keep track of part-time jobs, the Employment index in the Philly Fed printed at -8.6, the lowest since September 2009, and likely the most realistic indication of the jobs picture possible. And with prices paid soaring far over priced received, margins got crushed even more, as US companies continue to discover with every passing day.
Some meaningless pictures.
And some meaningless text from the meaningless survey itself:
Indicators Suggest Continued Weakness
The survey’s broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, increased 6 points, to a reading of ?7.1. This marks the fourth consecutive negative reading for the index but also its highest reading since May (see Chart 1). Nearly 30 percent of firms reported declines in activity this month, exceeding the 22 percent that reported increases. Indexes for new orders and shipments remained negative. The new orders index improved one point, while the shipments index fell 3 points.
Labor market conditions at the reporting firms deteriorated slightly this month. The current employment index, at ?8.6, remainednear its reading in the previous month. The percent of firms reporting decreases in employment (15 percent) exceeded the percent reporting increases (7 percent). Firms also indicated fewer hours worked this month: The average workweek index increased 3 points but posted its fifth consecutive negative reading.
Price Indexes for Output Near Steady Indexes for prices paid and prices received both increased from their readings in July. The prices paid index increased from 3.7 to 11.2. The percentage of firms reporting higher input prices was 26 percent; 19 percent reported higher prices last month. Fifteen percent of the firms reported declines in input prices. With respect to their own manufactured goods, however, firms reported nearsteady prices. While the percentage reporting an increase in product prices (13 percent) was slightly higher than the percentage reporting a decrease (10 percent), 73 percent reported steady prices. The prices received index edged up slightly, from to 1.6 to 2.8.
Blah blah blah (More here [7]). Less talky, more printy.