Tenth District manufacturing fell this month as expectations for future activity were mainly flat, according to September’s Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City survey.
Driven by a decrease in metal manufacturing, the monthly composite index, an average of the production, employment, new orders, supplier delivery time and raw materials inventory indexes fell eight points to -8 in September amid a decrease in metal manufacturing, but was still up three points from -11 in July.
“District firms’ finished product prices picked up slightly this month even as growth in raw materials prices slowed slightly,” the Fed stated. “However, firms expect raw materials price increases to outpace finished product prices in the next six months.”
Most other monthly indexes were also negative and fell from previous readings. The production, shipments and new orders indexes dropped to -13, -15 and -14, respectively. “Backlogs and inventories also declined, while the number of employees and the average employee workweek remained steady,” the Fed stated.
The composite index for factory activity fell three points to -12 this month as the future composite index fell one point to 1 amid weakening six-month expectations for production and new orders. “Growth in capital expenditures increased moderately, despite declines in production, orders and backlogs,” the Fed stated.