Empire State manufacturing index from the New York Fed for April:

  • Prior was +16.4
  • The lowest economist estimate was +10.2
  • Lowest reading since November
  • Employment +13.9 vs +8.8 prior
  • New orders +7.0 vs +21.3 prior
  • Prices paid +32.8 vs +31.0 prior
  • Six month conditions +39.9 vs +37.4 prior

The drop in the new orders index is a concern. The headline is obviously a miss and the US dollar has ticked lower but this really just corrects the index back to the trend.

The problem for the dollar is that this fits into the recent theme of data disappointment.