Weekly Economic Index rises to 2.68 in August 2026 release

The Weekly Economic Index August 2026 reading rose to 2.68 for the week ending August 1, from 2.42 a week earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s FRED database. The 0.26-point increase means the latest release does not show a week-to-week deceleration, although the index remained below its 3.12 reading on July 4.

FRED updated the non-seasonally-adjusted weekly series on August 6. The next release was scheduled for August 13.

The five most recent observations show an uneven sequence rather than a clear sustained direction. The index was 3.12 on July 4, fell to 2.60 on July 11, rose to 2.87 on July 18, declined to 2.42 on July 25 and then increased to 2.68 on August 1. The August 1 figure was 0.44 points below the July 4 level.

What does a Weekly Economic Index reading of 2.68 mean?

The Lewis-Mertens-Stock Weekly Economic Index, or WEI, is a high-frequency measure of US real economic activity. FRED says it is scaled to the four-quarter GDP growth rate. If a reading of 2.68 persisted through an entire quarter, the framework indicates that quarterly GDP would, on average, be expected to be 2.68% higher than a year earlier.

That interpretation is a statistical mapping of the index to growth, rather than a standalone official projection. FRED states explicitly that the WEI is not an official forecast of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, its president, the Federal Reserve System or the Federal Open Market Committee.

How is the Weekly Economic Index calculated?

The measure extracts a common signal from 10 daily and weekly indicators spanning consumer activity, labour-market conditions and production, according to FRED’s series notes. The inputs are first represented as year-over-year percentage changes and then combined into one index.

• Consumer and spending measures include Redbook same-store sales, the Rasmussen Consumer Index, fuel wholesale sales and US electricity load.
• Labour-market inputs include initial and continued unemployment-insurance claims, income and employment tax withholdings, and the American Staffing Association Staffing Index.
• Production and transport indicators include railroad traffic and steel production.

The series was developed by Daniel Lewis, Karel Mertens and James Stock. Its weekly frequency can offer a more current reading than quarterly GDP data, but the latest five releases also illustrate why a single move should not be treated as evidence of a durable change in economic momentum.

This story draws on original reporting from Econbrowser.