Economic activity edged up ever so slightly in October.  The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index remains below 0, but it went from -0.20 in September to -0.13 in October. Here's a look at the National Activity Index trend (note: this charts the three-month moving average, as opposed to monthly index levels):

Some of the key factors in the index for October:

Production-related indicators made a contribution of +0.15 to the index in October, up from –0.05 in September. Industrial production rose 0.7 percent in October after ticking down 0.1 percent in the previous month. Manufacturing production rose 0.5 percent in October after increasing 0.3 percent in September. Additionally, manufacturing capacity utilization increased to 75.4 percent in October from 75.1 percent in the previous month.

The employment-related indicators’ contribution to the index in October was +0.03, down from +0.14 in September. Payroll em- ployment edged up 80,000 in October after increasing 158,000 in the previous month. In contrast, the unemployment rate edged down from 9.1 percent in September to 9.0 percent in October. The sales, orders, and inventories category contributed +0.01 to the index in October, up slightly from –0.01 in September.

The contribution from the consumption and housing category to the index decreased to –0.32 in October from –0.28 in September. Housing starts edged down to 628,000 annualized units in October from 630,000 in September. Conversely, housing permits increased to 653,000 annualized units from 589,000 over the same period.

Read the release here.