Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions expanded for the first time in eight months in March, as new orders and shipments grew for the first time in several months, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index improved to 0.6 this month from a reading of -16.6 in February. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -10.0 in March.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The new orders and shipments indexes rose well above zero for the first time in several months, pointing to an increase in both orders and shipments, while price indexes suggested a slight increase in input prices and a small decline in selling prices.
Meanwhile, labor market conditions were little changed, with employment and the average workweek holding fairly steady.
The six-month outlook improved, with the index for future new orders rising to its highest level in more than a year.
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 1.1113 from around 1.1109 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4167 from 1.4170 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 112.71 from 112.89 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 96.60, compared to 96.63 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a decline of 0.5%, the S&P 500 futures ticked down 0.6%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 0.4%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,232.90 a troy ounce, compared to $1,233.40 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $36.19 a barrel from $36.30 earlier.