The Weekly Economic Index (WEI) is an index of ten daily and weekly indicators of real economic activity, scaled to align with the four-quarter GDP growth rate.
FromTo
Notes: The shaded areas indicate periods designated as recessions by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Annual real GDP growth (four-quarter moving average) is based on the latest quarterly GDP data release from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The 13-week moving average of the WEI offers an approximation of the four-quarter annual real GDP growth rate for a hypothetical quarter ending in a given week.
The WEI represents the common component of ten daily and weekly series covering consumer behavior, the labor market, and production, including:
Commentary
The decline in the WEI for the week of February 13 comes in spite of increases in consumer confidence and steel production, and is due to data series that typically provide more positive signals not yet being available.