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    Economy

    The Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index and Steel Supply

    Written by Peter Wright


    The following is the Chicago Federal Reserve statement followed by our own graphical analysis. The CFNAI is an excellent reality check for much of the economic analysis that we routinely provide in at Steel Market Update and is also a reasonably good predictor of steel demand with a six to nine month lead. For example by the time the steel market went off the cliff in September 2008, the CFNAI had been signaling an increasingly severe problem for eight months. An explanation of the Index is provided at the end of this piece.

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