Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions contracted for the fifth straight month in December, 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 -4.6 this month from a reading of -10.7 in November. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -6.0 in December.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
New orders continued to drop, but shipments increased for the first time since the summer.
Price indexes suggested that input prices increased slightly, while selling prices remained slightly lower.
Labor market conditions deteriorated noticeably, with survey indicators pointing to a sharp decline in both employment levels and hours worked.
Nonetheless, indexes for the six-month outlook increased markedly, suggesting more widespread optimism about future business conditions.
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 1.0987 from around 1.0995 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5154 from 1.5160 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 121.10 from 121.00 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.70, compared to 97.64 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 78 points, or 0.45%, at the open, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise 13 points, or 0.63%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures increased 26 points, or 0.57%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,064.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,064.70 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $36.36 a barrel from $36.23 earlier.