New York Activity Slips to Negative Territory in January

Source: New York Fed

Business activity in New York posted a steep decline in January, falling to negative territory after 18 straight months of positive readings.

• General business conditions dropped by 33 points to -0.7% during the month, indicating that growth stalled after a period of significant expansion.
• Some 22% of respondents said conditions improved over the month, while 23% said conditions had worsened.
• The new orders index fell by 32 points to -5.0%, while the shipments index declined to 1.0%, indicating that shipments were little changed during the period.
• Longer delivery times and higher unfilled orders were recorded during the month, while labor market indicators pointed to a moderate increase in employment.
• The index for the number of employees declined by five points to 16.1, and the average workweek index slipped to 10.3 to reflect increases in employment and hours worked.
• Firms were generally optimistic over the next six months, with the index steady at 35.1.