Weekly Economic Index (WEI)

July 9, 2020

 

Daniel Lewis, New York Fed

Karel Mertens, Dallas Fed

James Stock, Harvard University

The WEI is an index of 10 weekly indicators of real economic activity, scaled to have the units of four-quarter percent change of real GDP.

• The WEI is currently -6.83 percent, scaled to four-quarter GDP growth, for the week ended July 4 and -7.66 percent for June 27; for reference, the WEI stood at 1.54 percent for the week ended February 29.
• Today’s increase in the WEI for the week of July 04 is driven by increases in electricity production and rail traffic (relative to the same time last year) and a small decrease in initial UI claims, which more than offset declines in fuel sales and tax withholdings. The WEI for the week of June 27 was revised downwards due to the continuing UI claims release, which provided a weaker signal than previously available data.
• As alternative scales, the current WEI implies a 25.29 percent decrease in IP (YoY) and a 944k employee decrease in nonfarm payroll. 
• Data dashboard and .release (.pdf)
• Historical data including recent release (.xlsx)