Empire State, Philly Fed indexes show manufacturing still solid despite rising costs
BloombergWorkers review an assembled New Holland Ltd. round baler at the company's Haytools factory in New Holland, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Friday, April 8, 2016.
The numbers: There was a split in directions between the Empire State and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing indexes, with the New York-area gauge rising 2.2 points to a reading of 23.3 in November while the Philly Fed index slid 9.3 points to 12.9, a three-month low.
Any reading above zero indicates improving conditions.
| Empire State | Philadelphia Fed | |
| General business conditions | 23.3 | 12.9 |
| New orders | 20.4 | 9.1 |
| Shipments | 28 | 21.6 |
| Inventories | 10.1 | 9.5 |
| Prices paid | 44.5 | 39.3 |
| Prices received | 13.1 | 21.9 |
| Number of employees | 14.1 | 16.3 |
What happened: The big difference between the regional manufacturing indexes came in new orders, which fell slightly in New York and more steeply in Philadelphia.
Both gauges reflected that manufacturing executives were far more likely to report rising input prices than pass them on to customers.
The big picture: Manufacturers have been saying the same thing for a few months-complaining over rising prices, whether from tariffs or shortages of parts and labor, while still acknowledging that output has been solid.
Market reaction: Amid a flood of economic data that also included improving retail sales, U.S. stock futures had been signaling a lackluster start immediately following the reports, but are now pointing to a modest loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.83%