Today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas released their latest read on the manufacturing activity of their region indicating a continuation of the expansion seen in recent months yet with a few notable instances of weakness.While, the current production index declined slightly since January, the value remained in expansion territory at 2.3 indicating that more respondents saw increasing production than flat to declining.
Predictions of future production also declined since January but remained firmly in expansion at a level of 40.
The “volume of new orders” index showed a notable drop-off, declining from a very robust level of 26.8 in January to a weak -6 in February indicating that respondents currently see new orders dropping off.
Respondents also saw the prices paid for raw materials continuing to increase for the seventh consecutive month with the index now standing at a level of 40.9.
Finally, the outlook for the current employment level continues to be weak with the “number of employees” index registering -5.2 while the future number of employees index went flat at 22.5.
