Highlights
Growth held steady and moderate in the Chicago area according to the Chicago purchasers index which inched 4 tenths higher in August to 53.8. Low to mid 50 readings for the headline composite index as well as the report's sub-indexes indicate that slightly more purchasers in the area reported month-to-month growth than those reporting contraction. New orders, the most important of the sub-indexes, rose to 58.4 from 53.4, pointing to rising production in the months ahead. Production actually slowed a bit in August to 55.7 from a very strong 59.0 in July. One area of weakness is backlog orders which continued to show steep month-to-month contraction at 38.8 vs. July's 37.4. But the higher readings in new orders should boost backlogs in the months ahead.

Smooth supply chain readings are helping the area's businesses to work down backlogs. Snags in supplier deliveries eased in the month with the index down 3.4 points to 51.9. Inventories, at 44.6 vs. 55.1, were depleted in another reading consistent with the contraction in backlogs. Inventories will have to rebuilt in the months ahead to meet the rise in new orders, another plus in the report. Employment came back to 53.7 from an unusually high 61.6 in July that offers a reminder of this report's extreme volatility.

But the Chicago report did in fact predict slowdowns in the ISM reports for July, and today's readings will help firm expectations for steady and moderate ISM readings for August. The ISM manufacturing report will open the post Labor Day week at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday. The ISM non-manufacturing report will follow on Thursday. Markets showed no reaction to today's report which is coming ahead of Ben Bernanke's speech at 10:00 a.m. ET.

2007 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/31 2/28 3/30 4/30 5/31 6/29 7/31 8/31 9/28 10/31 11/30 12/28 Released For: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec