Manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region has grown in March on solid consumer demand as supply-chain bottlenecks are set to continue worsening.
- The index for current general activity of the Outlook Survey jumped to 27, its highest level since November 2021.
- Both current shipments and new orders indexes rose to their highest levels since November 2021. The current shipments index rose to 30.2, and the new orders index rose to 25.8.
- Indexes for prices paid and prices received indicated a widespread increase in prices and moved higher over the month. 87% of the firms posted an increase in input prices as 6% reported decreases.
- Manufacturing firms continued to report increases in employment as the employment index rose its record-high, 38.9. Nearly 44% of the firms reported increases in employment.
41% of the surveyed firms are optimistic about an increase in activity in the next six months, while 18% expect activity in the manufacturing sector to decrease.
DXY down -0.20%, EUR USD up +0.36%
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
