Forexpros – The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions improved significantly more-than-expected in May, as new orders inched up, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index jumped by 10.5 points to 17.1 in May from 6.6 in April.
Analysts had expected the index to rise by 1.9 points to 8.5 in May.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The new orders index inched up to 8.3, and the shipments index shot up 18.0 points to 24.1.
The indexes for both prices paid and prices received were positive but lower in May, indicating that the pace of price increases slowed.
Employment index readings remained relatively healthy, suggesting that employment levels and hours worked continued to expand.
Future indexes were noticeably lower than last month, indicating a positive but somewhat less optimistic view of the six-month outlook.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar held on to modest losses against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.16% to trade at 1.2842.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock future indices remained higher after the release of the data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to an increase of 0.5%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a gain of 0.6%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a rise of 0.7%.
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