Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions improved at the fastest rate since October 2009 in September, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index increased to 27.5 this month from a reading of 14.7 in August. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 16.0 in September.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The new orders index moved up three points to 16.9, and the shipments index advanced two points to 27.1.
Employment indexes showed a slight increase in employment levels and hours worked.
Indexes for the six-month outlook conveyed a high degree of optimism about future business conditions.
The Empire State index is of interest to traders primarily because it is seen as an early forecast of the national Institute for Supply management factory survey.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.2917 following the release of the data, from 1.2915 ahead of the report, while GBP/USD was at 1.6245, compared to 1.6242 earlier.
Meanwhile, U.S. equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow 30 indicated a loss of 0.1%, the S&P 500 pointed to a decline of 0.1%, while the NASDAQ 100 indicated a drop of 0.1%.