US: NY Empire State Manufacturing Index Improves to 17 in September

The headline General Business Conditions Index of the NY Fed’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey improved from 3.7 in August to 17 in September. This reading beat the market expectation of 6 by a wide margin.

“The new orders index climbed nine points to 7.1, pointing to a modest increase in orders, and the shipments index rose seven points to 14.1, indicating a significant increase in shipments.”

“The index for number of employees held steady at 2.6, indicating little change in employment levels.”
“The index for future business conditions moved up six points to 40.3, suggesting that firms remained optimistic about future conditions.”