In the latest sign of turbulence in the US economy, New York-area manufacturing suffered a large and unexpected setback in August, according to a survey released on Monday. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey plunged 42 points in August to minus-31.3. That marks the second-largest monthly decline on record for this closely watched gauge of economic activity.

Any reading below zero indicates a contraction. Economists had expected a more modest slowdown in the survey that would still signal expansion.

"Startlingly terrible," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note on Monday. "Momentum in the manufacturing sector certainly has slowed, but this is a collapse."

There is so, so much wrong with the credit scoring system in America, it's hard to know where to start. But the recent blunders by Equifax offer yet another reminder of the absurd power credit rating firms wield over Americans, my colleague Alexandra Peers writes.

In the latest sign of turbulence in the US economy, New York-area manufacturing suffered a large and unexpected setback in August, according to a survey released on Monday. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey plunged 42 points in August to minus-31.3. That marks the second-largest monthly decline on record for this closely watched gauge of economic activity.

Any reading below zero indicates a contraction. Economists had expected a more modest slowdown in the survey that would still signal expansion.

"Startlingly terrible," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note on Monday. "Momentum in the manufacturing sector certainly has slowed, but this is a collapse."

There is so, so much wrong with the credit scoring system in America, it's hard to know where to start. But the recent blunders by Equifax offer yet another reminder of the absurd power credit rating firms wield over Americans, my colleague Alexandra Peers writes.