Philadelphia Fed Archives - Shopfloor

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that manufacturing activity began 2018 on a solid note, even with a little easing in several measures in January. The composite index of general business activity declined from 27.9 in December to 22.2 in January, which was its lowest level since August but continued to reflect optimism overall. (Note that these figures reflect a new seasonal adjustment update for all past data points.) To illustrate the improvements in manufacturing sentiment over the past year, the headline index averaged 27.4 in 2017, up from 4.9 in 2016, and this measure has indicated expanding levels of activity for 20 straight months. In December, the underlying data were mixed. Shipments (up from 23.9 to 30.3), the average workweek (up from 12.6 to 16.7) and raw material prices (up from 27.8 to 32.9) accelerated somewhat for the month; whereas, new orders (down from 28.2 to 10.1) and employment (down from 19.7 to 16.8) softened. Read More

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that manufacturing activity continued to expand strongly in December. The composite index of general business activity increased from 22.7 in November to 26.2 in December. Overall, manufacturers in the district are more upbeat this year than last, with the headline index averaging 27.3 in 2017 versus 4.8 for 2016. New orders (up from 21.4 to 29.8) and shipments (up from 21.7 to 23.4) both accelerated in the latest month, ending the year with a robust pace. Indeed, 41.5 percent of respondents said that new orders had risen in December, with just 11.7 percent citing declining sales. The labor market was also healthy. Employment (down from 22.6 to 18.1) and the average workweek (down from 13.7 to 10.6) remained at healthy rates of growth despite some easing in this report. Read More

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that manufacturing activity continued to expand strongly in July. With that said, the composite index of general business activity decreased from 27.6 in June to 19.5 in July. Even with some easing for the second straight month, the headline index has averaged 29.7 year-to-date, illustrating the much-improved performance so far in 2017. The composite measure peaked at 43.3 in February, its best reading since November 1983. In July, manufacturers reported positive growth across-the-board, but many of the underlying data points decelerated. This included new orders (down from 25.9 to 2.1), shipments (down from 28.5 to 12.2), employment (down from 16.1 to 10.9) and the average workweek (down from 20.5 to 3.8). To illustrate the slower growth in this survey, the percentage of respondents saying that orders had increased in the month dropped from 44.8 percent in June to 30.5 percent in July, with those suggesting a decrease rising from 18.9 percent to 28.4 percent. Read More

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that manufacturing activity expanded strongly in June once again. The composite index of general business activity decreased from 38.8 in May to 27.6 in June. To illustrate this recent progress, the headline index has averaged 31.4 through the first half of 2017, peaking at 43.3 in February, which was the best reading since November 1983. For comparison purposes, the average in the second half of 2016 was 9.1. In fact, growth in new orders (up from 25.4 to 25.9) accelerated in June, with nearly 45 percent of survey respondents saying that demand had risen since May. At the same time, other measures softened a bit in this release, even as they continued to expand at decent rates. Those included shipments (down from 39.1 to 28.5), employment (down from 17.3 to 16.1) and the average workweek (down from 21.7 to 20.5). Read More