New York State Manufacturing Outlook

It’s always useful to get a reading on where companies in an industry sector expect their business to head in the future. Here is the latest from NY State manufacturers.

The post-war rebound continues, as clearly demonstrated by the improving business sentiment among the Empire State's manufacturers over the past four months. Continued improvement in the index for shipments reinforces a picture of improving conditions. While the number of respondents reporting higher new orders increased to nearly 33%, those reporting lower orders also grew nearly 5 percentage points to just over 20%. This is still a jobless recovery in manufacturing, with an equal number of firms reporting plans to shed jobs than to hire in August.

Future expectations are more encouraging with less than 7% expecting worse conditions versus nearly 67% of respondents expecting higher overall business conditions in six months. The strongest growth was the rise in the future inventories index, increasing to a record level of 10.2, with over 31% of reporters expecting higher inventories. Indeed, the six-month outlook for business conditions is at its highest since late 2002, registering in the 50 to 60 range over the past four months.

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