The Empire State Manufacturing Survey improved but continues deeply in contraction.

  • Expectations were for a reading between -16.00 to -7.50 (consensus -10.0) versus the -16.6 reported. Any value above zero shows expansion for the New York area manufacturers.
  • New orders and unfilled orders sub-index of the Empire State Manufacturing Survey are in contraction.
  • This noisy index has moved from +7.8 (February 2015), +6.9 (March), -1.2 (April), +3.1 (May), -2.1 (June), 3.9 (July), -14.9 (August), -14.7 (September), -11.4 (October), -10.7 (November), -4.6 (December), -19.4 (January 2016) – and now -16.6.
  • As this index is very noisy, it is hard to understand what these massive moves up or down mean – however this regional manufacturing survey is normally one of the more pessimistic.

    Econintersect reminds you that this is a survey (a quantification of opinion). Please see caveats at the end of this post. However, sometimes it is better not to look to deeply into the details of a noisy survey as just the overview is all you need to know.

    From the report:

    Empire State Manufacturing Survey

    z empire1.PNG

    The above graphic shows that when the index is in negative territory that it is not a signal of a recession – of 8 times in negative territory (since the Great Recession) – no recession occurred. Conversely, a positive number is likely to be indicating economic expansion. Historically, when it does make a correct negative prediction it can be timely – this index was only two months late in going negative after what was eventually determined to be the start of the 2007 recession.

    This survey has a lot extra bells and whistles which take attention away from the core questions: (1) are orders and (2) are unfilled orders (backlog) improving? Econintersect emphasizes these two survey points – and both improved but remain in contraction.

    Respondents believe the level of unfilled orders (backlog) is has been negative since 2011. Unfilled order contraction can be a signal for a recession – and remains contraction this month.