Manufacturers report expansion at a faster pace in January, and Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Report on Business respondents said price indexes continued trending lower.
The general business conditions index increased to 17.0 from 9.1.
Economists surveyed by IFR Markets predicted a reading of 10.0 for the index.
The prices paid index was 32.7, down from 38.9 last month, new orders index rose to 21.3 from 13.3, shipments fell to 11.4 from 12.4, the unfilled orders index dropped to 5.4 from 9.1, the delivery times index climbed to 13.4 from 5.5, inventories reversed to negative 7.6 from positive 2.6, prices received slid to 24.8 from 29.0, the number of employees index decreased to 9.6 from 19.1, and the average employee workweek grew to 6.0 from 4.0.
The six months from now general business conditions index gained to 31.2 from 29.9 in last month’s survey, the prices paid index was at 39.9, down from 60.9 in the prior survey, and the prices received index dropped to 34.1 from 47.9. The capital expenditures index slipped to 31.6 from 34.5 last month. The number of employees index grew to 34.7 from 33.5, while the average workweek index gained to 17.0 from 10.2. The new orders index fell to 32.2 from 38.5, shipments rose to 36.2 from 35.0; and the unfilled orders index decreased to negative 0.4 from positive 10.6. The delivery times index dropped to negative 0.1 from positive 2.0, and inventories jumped to 7.8 from 2.3.
