NY manufacturing index dips in October, indicates ‘steady’ business conditions

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business conditions index fell 5 points to 1.5 in October, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported this morning.

Despite the dip, the result indicates that business conditions “held steady” for New York manufacturers in October, according to the New York Fed.

That’s because the survey found roughly a quarter of respondents indicated that conditions had improved, while a similar amount of respondents felt conditions had worsened.

October’s result follows four straight months in which the general business conditions index indicated that manufacturing activity in the Empire State grew “modestly,” the New York Fed said in the survey report.

The survey’s new-orders index rose five points to 7.8 in October, and the shipments index fell three points to 13.1, suggesting that both orders and shipments increased “modestly” over the month, the New York Fed said.

The prices-paid index remained unchanged at 21.7, while the prices-received index fell six points to 2.4.

Labor-market conditions were also “steady” in October. The index for number of employees fell for a second consecutive month, but was slightly positive at 3.6, while the average-workweek index inched up to 3.6.

Price indexes pointed to a “steady pace” of input-price increases and “little change” in selling prices, according to the New York Fed.

The prices-paid index was unchanged at 21.7, and the prices-received index fell 6 points to 2.4.

Indexes for the six-month outlook continued conveying a “strong” degree of optimism about future-business conditions, according to the survey report.

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.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com