Manufacturing Activity in Central U.S. Contracts Marginally as Future Expectations Rebound
21 December 2023 - 4:51PM
Dow Jones News
By Ed Frankl
Factory activity in the central U.S. contracted for the fourth
consecutive month in December, albeit only marginally and slower
than recent months, as expectations for future output showed signs
of improvement.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said Thursday that the
Tenth District manufacturing survey's composite index was minus one
in December, up from minus two in November and minus eight in
October. Any reading below zero suggests activity contracted from
the previous month.
The Kansas City Fed survey gauges manufacturing activity in the
western third of Missouri, all of Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska,
Oklahoma and Wyoming, and the northern half of New Mexico.
While factory activity dipped slightly, expectations for future
activity rebounded, as sentiment for production and new orders
improved and employment is expected to rise, the survey said. The
measure of expectations for the next six months rose to a positive
figure of six, in December, from minus one in November.
Indexes for production, shipments, and new orders indexes were
all slightly negative in December, while employment activity
rebounded, the Kansas City Fed said.
"We are hoping supply-chain issues improve and upward pressure
on raw material prices eases. Our margins have taken some hits in
order to maintain business," one respondent quoted in the survey
said.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 21, 2023 11:36 ET (16:36 GMT)
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