Chicago Business Barometer™ & Research

Chicago Business Barometer^™ & Research

Monthly Survey - Chicago Business Barometer^™

The ISM Chicago Business Survey, is a regional view of the national economy; is a time-tested, market-moving report. The Chicago Report^™ is available to subscribers on the last working day each month. The Chicago Business Barometer^™ summarizes current Business Activity. The Barometer is considered to be a leading indicator of the U.S.A. economy.

For more than seven decades, the Chicago Business Barometer^™ has been providing leading insight on the U.S. economy. The Chicago Business Barometer^™ is delivered to subscribers via the MNI Chicago Report^™, a monthly report published by MNI Indicators that presents valuable information on the U.S. economic activity and a fresh look at current U.S. business conditions. The report consists of seven Business Activity indicators and three Buying Policy indicators that represent activity and preformance levels compared to the prior month.

Purchasing and Supply Management professionals in the Chicago area, primarily members of ISM Chicago, are polled to assess business conditions for their respective companies every month.

For more information about the Chicago Business Barometer^™ and MNI Indicators products, please contact cbb@ism-chicago.org.

Periodically, ISM Chicago may invite our members and community to participate in additional research.

April - Chicago Business Barometer^™

The Chicago Business Barometer^™ descended 3.5 points to 37.9 in April. This is the fifth consecutive monthly fall, pushing the index to its lowest levels since November 2022.

Four out of five subcomponents fell, with the move driven lower signficantly by falls in New Orders, Production, Employment, and to a lesser extent Supplier Deliveries, whilst Order Backlogs offset some of this differentiation.

Employment lowest since February 2023. New Orders dropped to November 2022 levels.

A special question in April asked: Looking ahead which of the following potential disruptions are you most concern about? Top two responses were 36% Geopolitical Conflicts, and tied for second were 20% each for Cyber Attacks and Supply Shortages.

Released April 30, 2024.

How OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 Will Replace Leadership Storytelling--Except for This

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Storytelling requires the kind of soul AI is missing.

Esther Choy, the CEO of Leadership Story Lab, recently used ChatGPT-4 to compose a poem about the importance of leadership storytelling, and while it was accurate, it was missing something vital -- the triumph over obstacles that creates the heart of good storytelling. "What draws audiences to a story, what makes people feel a sense of connection, is the difficulty we face, the pain we endure and the relevation we arrive at," Choy writes.

Full Story: Forbes

Port of Baltimore crisis: What Supply Chain Managers need to know

04/01/2024

Nearby ports taking ships after Baltimore bridge collapse

The bridge collapse in Baltimore has caused rerouting in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, with ports as south as Georgia willing to handle additional ships. In addition, trucks are still moving in and out of the Baltimore port although some road detours are in place, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.

Full Story: Supply Chain Dive

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