Chicago Fed National Activity Index

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index, or CFNAI, is a monthly index published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that tracks overall United States economic activity and inflationary pressure. It is built as a weighted average of eighty five existing monthly indicators drawn from four broad categories: production and income; employment, unemployment and hours; personal consumption and housing; and sales, orders and inventories. The index is constructed to have an average value of zero and a standard deviation of one, so a positive reading corresponds to growth above the historical trend and a negative reading to growth below trend, and research has found it often gives early signals of turning points in the business cycle.