From the Kansas City Fed: Growth in Tenth District Manufacturing Activity Edged Higher
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released the July Manufacturing Survey today. According to Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the survey revealed that growth in Tenth District manufacturing activity edged higher, and producers’ optimism for future activity increased.
“Factories in our region reported slightly faster growth in July,” said Wilkerson. “In addition, future hiring and capital spending plans were the highest in six months.”
The month-over-month composite index was 9 in July, up from 6 in June but slightly lower than 10 in May. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory indexes. … The production index climbed from 2 to 11, and the shipments, new orders [to 12], and employment indexes [from 1 to 8] also rose considerably.
emphasis added
The last regional Fed manufacturing survey for July will be released on Monday, July 28th (the Dallas Fed). All of the regional surveys so far have indicated stronger growth in July than in June and – in general – the strongest growth in several years.