Factory activity in US northeast began Q2 on soft note
Manufacturing activity in the New York Fed’s district slowed slightly in April, with relatively broad-based weakness evident in the different subindices.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s manufacturing sector gauge, which is known in the markets as the Empire State index, dropped to a reading of -1.19 from 6.9 in March.
Analysts had been expecting a reading of 7.
The new orders gauge printed at -6 – its lowest reading since January 2013 - versus -2.39 in the month before.
A barometer of prices paid rose to 19.15 from 12.37 in the prior month.
“The three-month trend for new orders has slipped into negative territory in April (-2.4, previous: 1.6), which, in our view, suggests Northeast manufacturing is starting Q2 on a soft note. We look to tomorrow’s Philly Fed manufacturing survey for confirmation of this trend,” Barclays’ Jesse Hurwitz pointed out.