Philly Fed index jumps in February
Factory sector activity in the mid-Atlantic region improved significantly in February, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing sector gauge jumped from a reading of -10.6 in January to 5.2 for February.
Economists had penciled-in a reading of -8.0.
The improvement was driven by the sub-index for shipments which rose from -6.2 to 10.7.
In parallel, the sub-index for new orders improved from -17.9 to -5.2.
Price pressures intensified too, with the corresponding sub-index rising from 11.3 to reach 16.6.
"Remember, though, that nothing in the regional Fed surveys is definitive evidence of anything; each survey is based on fewer than 100 firms, and none of these surveys covers activity west of the Rockies," said Kieran Clancy, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"That said, the improvement in today's surveys tallies with the increase in the national ISM manufacturing index in January, and we are hopeful that this improvement will be sustained over the next few months, at least."