Economy
January 31, 2018
Chicago Business Barometer Retreats in January
Written by Sandy Williams
The Chicago Business Barometer retreated 2.1 points in January to 65.7, but remained an encouraging start for 2018. The barometer was 28.3 percent higher than the January 2016 reading and above the average of 63.7 in the second half of 2017.
New orders and output slowed in January. Orders were at a five-month low accompanied by a decline in production. The slowdown allowed firms to catch up on backlogs, dropping the index reading for order backlogs to its lowest level since May.
