EmailThe Philadelphia Fed Index increased from -30.7 in August to -17.5 in September. The September reading was still below the Briefing.com consensus estimate of -10.0 and it remains indicative of a contraction in regional manufacturing activity, albeit not as severe as what was suggested with the August report.
The indexes for new orders (-11.3), shipments (-22.8), unfilled orders (-10.4), and the average employee workweek (-13.7) remained stuck below the expansion threshold. Notably, the index for the number of employees moved back to positive ground, rising from -5.2 in August to 5.8 in September.
Despite the apparent signs of slowdown in recent months, respondents to the survey are optimistic that conditions will improve six months from now. This encouraging thought was evidenced in the uptick in the diffusion index for general business activity six months from now, which climbed from 1.4 to 21.4.
Similarly, higher -- and positive-- readings for the diffusion indexes for new orders, shipments, unfilled orders, and average employee workweek were seen with respect to the six-month outlook.
