South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Economic conditions remained weak across much of the nation in October, according to the newest State Coincident Indexes Report prepared by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

In October coincident indexes moved in a negative direction in 27 states and in a positive direction in 15 states (KS, MA, MI, MN, MT, NC, NH, NJ, OH, OR, RI, TN, VA, VT, WV). No changes occurred in eight states (AR, CO, FL, IA, IN, ME, MO, NV).

The map to the right, which is taken from the Reserve Bank’ survey, shows the three-month changes in coincident indicators by state. Positive numbers denote improvements in economic conditions, and negative numbers refer to declines.

Over the last three months, coincident  indexes decreased in 37 states, rose in seven states (IN, MA, MN, MT, NC, NH, OH, SD, TN, VA, VT, WV) and held steady in one state: Idaho.

During the same period, North Carolina’s coincident index moved in a slightly positive direction, suggesting that economic conditions improved slightly.