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Bloomberg News/Landov An employee pulls a crucible of molten glass from a furnace at the Corning Inc. plant in Corning, New York.
The numbers: The New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State business conditions index rose 1.5 points to 4.8 in January, the regional Fed bank said Wednesday. Economists had expected a reading of 3.6, according to a survey by Econoday.
Any reading above zero indicates improving conditions.
What happened: The new-orders index rose 4.9 points to 6.6 in January while shipments fell 0.9 points to 8.6. Unfilled orders continued to decline.
Optimism about the six-month outlook remained restrained. The index for future business conditions edged down 3 points to 23.6.
Big picture: The factory sector continued to struggle, hurt by trade worries, a pull back in spending, and Boeing Co’s BA, +0.00% isssues over its grounded 737 Max airplane. Investors look at the data mainly to get a sense of the U.S. national ISM index, which has been contracting for five straight months. The regional Fed indicators have not been as weak as the ISM in recent months. In December, the ISM factory index slipped to 47.2, the weakest reading since the recession.
Market reaction: Stocks were set to open lower, on renewed worries over trade tension with China. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.34% fell 4.98 points to 3,283.
