by Laura Conaway

This week we'll get a few new signals about where this economy is heading. One comes from the Institute for Supply Management in Chicago. Its Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index, or Chicago PMI, gives a snapshot of whether manufacturing in that region is growing or shrinking. The September answer is in:

Shrinking.

A reading of below 50 on the Chicago PMI indicates contraction, and above 50 indicates expansion. Analysts were looking for a 52. They got a reading of 46.1, down from 50 in August.

U.S. Treasurys got a little bounce after the news, because investors value safer bets in a stormy economy. When Treasurys go up, stocks tend to drop, as they did this morning.

The good news, such as it is, is the same old news lately, from GDP to job loss: The rate of contraction is slowing. The full ISM report is due out Thursday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern.