US DATA: Jan NY Fed Empire data were benchmarked and revised: Text
“Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New
York manufacturers improved in January. The general business conditions
index rose 2 points to 11.9. The new orders index moved up 10 points to
12.4, and the shipments index surged 18 points to 25.4. After a sharp
decline last month, the inventories index rose above zero. Employment
indexes also climbed into positive territory. Both the prices paid and
prices received indexes rose, pointing to an acceleration in both input
prices and selling prices. Future indexes conveyed a high level of
optimism.” Q on expected changes in the size of their firms’ workforces
and about the reasons for the changes: Slightly more than half of
respondents indicated that they expected their workforce to increase in
the year ahead, while just 15 percent predicted declines in the total
number of workers.”