NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region contracted in January but less severely than expected, a survey showed on Thursday.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported its business activity index at minus 24.3 after a reading of minus 36.1 for December.
Any reading below zero indicates contraction in the region's manufacturing sector. Economists had expected a result of minus 35.0, according to the median of 54 forecasts in a Reuters poll which ranged from minus 41.3 to negative 23.7.
The survey of factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware is seen as one of the first monthly indicators of the health of the U.S. manufacturing sector. (Reporting by Burton Frierson; Editing by James Dalgleish)