Washington, DC, February 15, 2006--Manufacturing activity in the New York area held steady in February, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Wednesday.
The bank's Empire State Manufacturing index rose to 20.3 in February from 20.1 in January.
Readings over zero indicate expansion. The pace of growth in February matches the average of the past several months.
The increase was unexpected. Economists were expecting the index to slip to 18.1.
In February, new orders, shipments and unfilled orders were essentially unchanged from January.
The new orders index inched lower to 26.5 from 27.2. Shipments slipped to 31.6 from 32.0 in January. Unfilled orders rose to 2.9 from 2.7 in the previous month.
The employment index fell to 4.7 in February from 11.7 in January.
Prices remained elevated in February. The prices paid index rose to 52.8 in February from 46.6 in the previous month.
Survey respondents expected business conditions to continue to improve over the next six months, although there was a slight decline of optimism.
The future index for general business conditions fell to 37.9 in February from 47.6 in January.
The Empire State index is of interest to traders primarily because it's seen as an early forecast of the national Institute for Supply management factory survey due out in two weeks. In January, the ISM manufacturing fell to 54.8% from 55.6% in the previous month.
