And just like that... hope was gone.
Having soared to post-crisis highs in the months after President Trump's election, Richmond Fed's Manufacturing Survey has crashed (by the second biggest drop ever) in May...
New Order volume growth disappeared, capacity utilization shrank dramatically, Order backlogs disappeared, shipments plunged, and the average workweek tumbled.
Worse still, the expectations index also tumbled with every subcomponent dropping.