NEW YORK – The region's manufacturing sector continued to improve, as the general business conditions index increased to 18.9 in March from 17.6 in February, this month’s Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Report on Business indicates.
Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a reading of 18.0 for the index.
“Indexes for general activity, new orders, shipments, and employment all remained positive this month. The survey's broad indicators of future activity continued to suggest that the region's manufacturing executives expect business activity to increase over the next six months,” according to the survey.
The prices paid index was 38.6, compared to 32.4 in January, new orders index fell to 9.3 from 22.7, shipments slumped to 13.6 from 19.7, the unfilled orders index climbed to negative 4.9 from negative 7.5, the delivery times index reversed to positive 7.9 from negative 2.1, inventories dropped to negative 11.0 from positive 3.2, prices received decreased to negative 0.4 from positive 3.7, the number of employees index rose to 8.4 from 7.4, and average employee workweek jumped to 7.6 from 1.9.
The six months from now general business conditions index surged to 52.0 from 35.8 in last month’s survey, the prices paid index was at 54.1, up from 51.2 in the prior survey, and the prices received index was at 22.9, down from 26.4. The capital expenditures index slipped to 9.7 from 26.0 last month. The number of employees index grew to 24.4 from 13.8, while the average workweek index gained to 28.6 from 23.9. The new orders index climbed to 45.2 from 41.3; shipments fell to 44.3 from 51.0; and the unfilled orders index rose to 18.6 from 14.1. The delivery times index slid to 0.7 from 9.0, and inventories decreased to 8.1 from 15.4.
