The US economy got off to a stumbling start in 2024 based at least on the national activity index which fell 0.30 points or nearly double Econoday's consensus. Production-related indicators (one of four components in this report) contracted sharply, pulling the headline index down by 0.16 points or double December's negative contribution. The consumption and housing component pulled the index down by 0.10 points versus December's positive 0.05 contribution. Sales, orders, and inventories contributed minus 0.04, down from December's plus 0.05, while employment was neutral in January as it was in December.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) is a monthly index that tracks overall economic activity and inflationary pressures. The CFNAI is a weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of national economic activity. It is constructed to have an average value of zero and a standard deviation of one. Since economic activity tends toward trend growth over time, a positive index reading corresponds to growth above trend and a negative index reading corresponds to growth below trend.

This index is unique among regional Federal Reserve Bank indexes in that it is national in scope. Investors are eager to have insight into economic growth and inflation. This index combines 85 diverse and already released indicators from four broad categories -- production and income; employment, unemployment, and hours; personal consumption and housing; and sales, orders, and inventories -- into an overall index to measure economic performance. The index provides another measure with which investors can measure overall growth.