Winter storms and cold weather dominated much of January and somehow Empire State managed its greatest beat in a year; however, we are sure the weather will be blamed for the biggest miss in 3 months for the data in Feb (printing 4.48 vs expectations of 8.5). New Orders tumbled from 10.98 to -0.21; inventories plunged, and expectations for the average work week and future Capex spend expectations collapsed to their lowest since July 09.The drop from January's exuberance is the largest in 18 months.
Biggest drop in 18 months
[3]
Future Capex spend expectations drop to lowest since July 2009!
[4]
Of course, the weather will be blamed but we struggle to understand how expetations for 6-months forward capital expenditure will be so negatively affected by some snow in February!
Charts: Bloomberg