The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), remained unchanged from July, continuing a modest deceleration of growth. The flat reading follows a 0.1% increase in July and a flat reading in June. Compared to a year earlier, the CAB is up 3.2% year-over-year, an easing from recent year-over-year gains. All data is measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA). On a year-over-year basis, the unadjusted CAB is up 3.0%, also an easing from the previous six months.
The Chemical Activity Barometer has four primary components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators. In August, three of the four broad categories improved, as did the diffusion index (number of positive contributors relative to total indicators monitored), which rose to 82% from 71% in July.
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