From the Kansas City Fed: Tenth District Manufacturing Activity Expanded at a Moderate Pace
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released the December Manufacturing Survey today. According to Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the survey revealed that Tenth District manufacturing activity continued to expand at a moderate pace in December, and producers’ expectations for future activity remained at solid levels.
“This month’s results are similar to what we’ve seen most of the year, said Wilkerson. The main change in December, which we started to see in November, is that input price pressures have come down.”
The month-over-month composite index was 8 in December, up slightly from 7 in November and 4 in October. The composite index is an average of the production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time, and raw materials inventory indexes. … The employment index jumped from 10 to 18, its highest level in nearly two years. …
Future factory indexes were mostly stable at solid levels. The future composite index was unchanged at 22, while the future shipments, new orders, and employment indexes increased further. The future capital spending index jumped from 15 to 23, its highest level in five months. In contrast, the future production index eased from 34 to 30, and the future order backlog index also inched lower.
emphasis added
Two more regional Fed manufacturing surveys for December will be released this month (the Dallas and Richmond Fed surveys). So far the regional surveys have indicated decent growth in December and optimism about the future.