New York manufacturing conditions improve in June, survey finds

Business conditions for New York manufacturers “improved modestly” in June, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today released the June survey.

The general-business conditions index, the “most comprehensive” of the survey’s measures, rose nine points to 7.8, according to the New York Fed.

About 29 percent of manufacturers said conditions had improved over the month, while 22 percent felt conditions had worsened, the survey found.

But most other indicators in the survey fell.

The new-orders index slipped six points to -6.7, the shipments index fell 12 points to -11.8, and the unfilled-orders index declined eight points to -14.5.

The prices-paid index held steady at 21, while the prices-received index rose seven points to 11.3, the survey found.

Labor-market conditions worsened, with the index for number of employees dropping to zero and the average-workweek index retreating 10 points to -11.3.

Continuing the trend over the past few months, indexes for the six-month outlook declined, suggesting that optimism about future conditions was “weakening further” among New York’s manufacturers in June, according to the New York Fed.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey is distributed on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. Typically, about 100 surveys are returned.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com