(Reuters) – The New York Federal Reserve said on Wednesday its barometer of manufacturing activity in New York State contracted for a third straight month in February, but not by as much as economists had expected as orders and shipments stabilized.
The regional Fed’s “Empire State” index on current business conditions rose to -5.8 this month from -32.9 in January, which had been the lowest level since mid-2020. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index at -18.0, and the reading exceeded all 35 estimates in the poll.
A reading below zero signals the New York manufacturing sector is contracting.
New orders contracted modestly after January’s big drop-off, and shipments were essentially unchanged. Manufacturing employment, meanwhile, did fall slightly, the first loss of factory jobs in the state since June 2020, and the hiring outlook was the softest since 2016.
Looking ahead, businesses saw conditions improving over the next six months, with its expectations index rising to 14.7 – the highest since May 2022 – from 8.0 in January.
(Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Nick Zieminski)