Lots to catch up as taxes and grading have taken my time the last week or so.

The Philadelphia Fed Reserve Bank issues “Philly Fed Coincident Indicators”.  This is an index, state-by-state, of various economic indicators.  The index helps tell whether the local (state) economy is improving or not.  As you can see from the map, Michigan is leading – the only state with a more than 1% improvement in the 3 -month index.  Now granted, we’re improving from a very depressed, low level. But improvement is improvement and if Michigan is to return to “normal” conditions like most states, we have to improve more, faster.  I like it.  It’s confirmation of the same message we’re getting from the state-by-state unemployment data.  See here

I quote:

from CalculatedRisk on 3/30/2010 12:41:00 PM

Click on map for larger image.

Here is a map of the three month change in the Philly Fed state coincident indicators. Twenty five states are showing declining three month activity. The index increased in 18 states, and was unchanged in 7

Here is the Philadelphia Fed state coincident index release for February.

In the past month, the indexes increased in 21 states, decreased in 22, and remained unchanged in seven for a one-month diffusion index of -2. Over the past three months, the indexes increased in 18 states, decreased in 25, and remained unchanged in seven for a three-month diffusion index of -14.