Monday, August 16, 2010

Empire Manufacturing "Modest" Gain... Orders Fall

NY Fed details:
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions improved modestly in August for New York manufacturers. The general business conditions index rose 2 points from its July level, to 7.1. The new orders and shipments indexes both dipped below zero for the first time in more than a year, indicating that orders and shipments declined on balance; the unfilled orders index was also negative.


Source: NY Fed

3 comments:

  1. That final GDP number is going lower every day it seems.

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  2. Jake, Although new orders have been in a decelerating trend for months, the "number of employees" diffusion index is holding at a positive level. That is, even though employers could see the problem with new orders coming, they have continued to hire. Why? My guess is that the decline in new orders is mostly due to the inventory cycle and hence is seen by managers to be temporary. Any thoughts?

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  3. It would be a shame if hiring went up for a restocking inventory blip only to trend down after its done.

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