By Ed Frankl
Manufacturing activity in New York State declined this month, albeit at a more gradual pace, amid persistently weak conditions but better hopes regarding the outlook ahead.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that its Empire State Manufacturing Survey climbed to minus 6.0 in June from 15.6 a month ago, still in contractionary territory as it was below zero. A consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the index to rise more moderately to minus 10.5.
"Manufacturing conditions remained weak in New York State in June," said Richard Deitz, economic research adviser at the New York Fed.
"Employment continued contracting, and capital spending plans remained flat," he added.
However, new orders were mostly unchanged and the index's shipments component pointed to a small increase, the survey said.
In addition, optimism about the six-month outlook rose to its highest level in more than two years, with close to half of respondents expecting conditions to be better, according to the survey.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-17-24 0845ET
