The sharp downturn in State manufacturing due to Coronavirus/Covid-19 continued in May according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey, even as optimism grew about the future. Over 60% of manufacturers reported that conditions were worse in May than in April. Still the general business conditions index rebounded 29.7 points from last month’s record low, although the -48.5 reading was still the second lowest in survey history (a reading below 0.0 signals contraction). Almost every sub-index also came off their April lows but still remained deeply negative including New Orders, Shipments, Number of Employees and Average Work Week. Nevertheless, the future business conditions index was up 22.1 points to 29.1 indicating manufacturers believe things will have improved six months from now. See the full report here.
