For New York manufacturers, new orders and shipments both declined substantially and unfilled orders “continued to shrink.” That’s according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which released the monthly Empire State Manufacturing Survey on April 15. The survey’s general business-conditions index rose 7 points in April, but remained underwater at -14.3, pointing to […]
For New York manufacturers, new orders and shipments both declined substantially and unfilled orders “continued to shrink.”
That’s according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which released the monthly Empire State Manufacturing Survey on April 15.
The survey’s general business-conditions index rose 7 points in April, but remained underwater at -14.3, pointing to continued contraction in the state’s manufacturing sector. The result was worse than the consensus economists’ expectation for a reading of -5.2, according to a Seeking Alpha article.
The index has been volatile in recent months. It declined 19 points to -20.9 in March after rising 41 points in February to -2.4, rebounding from a nearly four-year low in January but still remaining in negative territory.
The general business-conditions index is the monthly gauge of New York’s manufacturing sector. Based on firms responding to the survey, the April reading indicates business activity “continued to decline” in New York state, the New York Fed said in its April 15 report.
A negative index number indicates a decline in the state’s manufacturing sector, while a positive number shows expansion or growth in manufacturing activity.
Besides the decline in new orders and shipments, the Empire State Survey also found the six-month outlook for manufacturers improved, though optimism “remained subdued.”
Survey details
The new-orders index was little changed at -16.2, and the shipments index fell 8 points to -14.4, pointing to an ongoing decline in both orders and shipments, the New York Fed said.
The unfilled-orders index held steady at -10.1, a sign that unfilled orders “continued to fall.” The inventories index moved up 16 points to 3.4, indicating that inventories edged higher for the first time in several months, and the delivery-times index fell to -7.9, suggesting that delivery times shortened.
The index for number of employees came in at -5.1 and the average-workweek index was little changed at -10.6, pointing to an ongoing decline in employment levels and hours worked.
The prices-paid index moved up 5 points to 33.7, indicating that input price increases “picked up slightly,” and the prices-received index held steady at 16.9.
The index for future business conditions dipped 5 points to 16.7, with only 37 percent of respondents expecting conditions to improve in the next six months.
The outlook for employment growth “weakened noticeably.” The capital-spending index fell to 6.7, suggesting that capital-spending plans remained soft.
The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.
