{"id":429535,"date":"2026-04-15T19:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/empire-fed-april-manufacturing-index-11-0-vs-0-5-expected\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:40:05","slug":"empire-fed-april-manufacturing-index-11-0-vs-0-5-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/empire-fed-april-manufacturing-index-11-0-vs-0-5-expected\/","title":{"rendered":"Empire Fed April manufacturing index +11.0 vs -0.5 expected"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/news\/march-empire-fed-manufacturing-survey-index-020-versus-390-estimate-20260316\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow\">Prior <\/a>was -0.2<\/li>\n<li>New orders +19.3 vs +6.4 prior<\/li>\n<li>Prices paid +51.0 vs +36.6 prior<\/li>\n<li>Employment +9.8 vs +5.8 prior<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Separately, the US was out with import\/export price data:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Import prices +0.8% vs +2.0% exp<\/li>\n<li>Export prices +1.6% vs +1.5% exp<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those numbers align with PPI data released earlier this week that were surprisingly benign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The Empire State Manufacturing Survey, published monthly by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is one of the earliest regional manufacturing indicators released each month and is closely watched as a barometer of broader U.S. industrial activity. The survey polls approximately 200 manufacturing executives across New York State, who report changes in 11 indicators \u2014 including general business conditions, new orders, shipments, inventories, employment, and prices \u2014 relative to the prior month, as well as their expectations six months ahead. The main headline index, general business conditions, is a standalone question rather than a weighted average of the other components. Readings above zero signal expansion, while negative readings indicate contraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">After slipping into negative territory in late 2025, the index turned positive in January 2026, jumping to 7.7 from a revised -3.7 in December as new orders and shipments both improved. February&#8217;s reading edged down slightly to 7.1, with activity continuing to expand modestly and employment rising.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The March reading, however, disappointed markets, falling to -0.2 \u2014 well below the consensus forecast of around 3 to 4 \u2014 marking the first negative print of the year. New orders showed modest growth at 6.4, but shipments contracted at -6.9 and delivery times lengthened significantly. Input price pressures eased notably, with the prices paid index declining sharply by 13 points to 36.6, though it remained elevated. Despite the soft headline number, manufacturers expressed strong optimism about the six-month outlook, and capital spending plans climbed to a multi-year high of 21.6.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prior was -0.2 New orders +19.3 vs +6.4 prior Prices paid +51.0 vs +36.6 prior Employment +9.8 vs +5.8 prior Separately, the US was out with import\/export price data: Import prices +0.8% vs +2.0% exp Export prices +1.6% vs +1.5% exp Those numbers align with PPI data released earlier this week that were surprisingly benign. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}