Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions contracted for the first time in three months in May, as new orders and shipments turned negative, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index fell to -9.0 this month from a reading of 9.6 in April. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 6.5 in May.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The new orders and shipments indexes also fell below zero, pointing to a decline in both orders and shipments. Survey results indicated that inventory levels were lower and delivery times shorter.
Employment levels appeared to be little changed, while the average workweek index pointed to a decline in hours worked.
The six-month outlook was somewhat less optimistic than last month, and the capital spending index plummeted to 3.1, its lowest reading in more than two years.
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 1.1331 from around 1.1322 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4372 from 1.4364 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 108.81 from 108.86 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.51, compared to 94.56 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open. The Dow futures pointed to an increase of 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures ticked up 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.1%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,285.80 a troy ounce, compared to $1,285.30 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.14 a barrel from $47.18 earlier.