by Calculated Risk on 11/29/2010 10:30:00 AM

From the Dallas Fed: Texas Manufacturing Activity Strengthens Further

Texas factory activity increased in November, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, was positive for the third consecutive month and came in at a reading of 13, up from 7 in October.

All other manufacturing activity indicators also rose, posting their best month since May. The new orders and shipments indexes turned positive after five months of negative readings.
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Labor market indicators picked up this month. The employment index rose from –4 to 6, reaching its highest level since May, and hours worked increased for the first time in four months.

The following graph compares the regional Fed surveys through November with the ISM manufacturing index through October. The ISM manufacturing index for November will be released on Wednesday, Dec 1st.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

The New York and Philly Fed surveys are averaged together (dashed green, through November), and averaged five Fed surveys (blue, through November) including New York, Philly, Richmond, Dallas and Kansas City.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) PMI (red) is through October (right axis).

With the exception of the NY Fed survey (Empire state), all the regional surveys showed a pickup in manufacturing activity in November.