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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Richmond Fed: "Manufacturers in the Fifth District Improved in June"

by Calculated Risk on 6/27/2017 05:04:00 PM

From the Richmond Fed: Reports from Manufacturers in the Fifth District Improved in June

Reports from Fifth District manufacturers improved in June, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index rose from 1 in May to 7 in June, as the indexes for shipments and new orders increased. The employment index was relatively flat. Most firms continued to report steady or higher wages; although the index for wages did fall in June, it remained above 0. Meanwhile, more firms reported a decline in the average workweek than reported an increase.

Looking six months ahead, manufacturing executives were more optimistic in June than in May, although even the May readings were very positive.
emphasis added
This was the last of the regional Fed surveys for June.

Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index:

Fed Manufacturing Surveys and ISM PMI Click on graph for larger image.

The New York and Philly Fed surveys are averaged together (yellow, through June), and five Fed surveys are averaged (blue, through June) including New York, Philly, Richmond, Dallas and Kansas City. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) PMI (red) is through April (right axis).

Based on these regional surveys, it seems likely the ISM manufacturing index will increase slightly in June compared to May (to be released this coming Monday, July 3rd).  The early consensus is for the ISM index to be unchanged in June.