Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions contracted for the seventh straight month in February, however the pace of decline slowed, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index improved to -16.6 this month from a reading of -19.4 in January. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -10.0 in February.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The new orders and shipments indexes indicated an ongoing decline in both orders and shipments, while Price indexes suggested a slight increase in input prices and a small drop in selling prices.
Meanwhile, employment levels steadied, while the average workweek index pointed to a decrease in hours worked.
The six-month outlook remained weak, with the index for future general business conditions up only slightly from last month’s multi-year low.
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 1.1168 from around 1.1164 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4358 from 1.4354 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 113.78 from 113.83 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 96.64, compared to 96.69 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 183 points, or 1.15%, at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise 33 points, or 1.17%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures increased 61 points, or 1.52%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,213.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,213.10 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $29.41 a barrel from $29.38 earlier.