It followed a huge gain in November The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business conditions index fell 31 points to 0.2 in December after reaching its highest reading in nearly three years in November. The index climbed 43 points to 31.2 in November after dropping 23 points to -11.9 in October. The general business conditions […]
It followed a huge gain in November
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business conditions index fell 31 points to 0.2 in December after reaching its highest reading in nearly three years in November.
The index climbed 43 points to 31.2 in November after dropping 23 points to -11.9 in October. The general business conditions index is the monthly gauge of New York’s manufacturing sector.
Based on firms responding to the survey, the December reading indicates business activity “held steady” in New York state, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its Dec. 16 report.
A positive reading indicates expansion or growth in manufacturing activity, while a negative index number points to a decline in the sector.
The survey found new orders and shipments “increased modestly,” the New York Fed said. However, delivery times fell, and labor-market conditions declined.
It also found firms remained optimistic about the six-month outlook
Survey details
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey’s new orders and shipments indexes retreated, but remained positive at 6.1 and 9.4, respectively, pointing to modest gains in both orders and shipments.
Unfilled orders continued to fall. The inventories index climbed to 10.5, signaling that inventories grew.
The delivery times index fell 11 points to -7.4, suggesting that delivery times were shorter, and the supply-availability index came in at 1.1, a sign that supply availability was little changed.
Labor-market conditions “worsened somewhat,” the New York Fed said. The index for number of employees moved down to -5.8, and the average-workweek index fell to -3.9, pointing to a small decline in both employment and hours worked.
The prices-paid index fell 7 points to 21.1, and the prices-received index declined 8 points to 4.2, suggesting that both input and selling price increases moderated.
Firms were “fairly optimistic” that conditions would continue to improve in the months ahead, “though less so than they were in November,” the report stated.
The index for future business activity fell 9 points to 24.6, with 42 percent of respondents expecting conditions to improve over the next six months. Inventories are expected to continue to grow, and capital-spending plans remained modest.
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.
