This aint gettin’ any betta. That is for sure!

Manufacturing continues to slow in all regions. Aside from the recent uptick in Retail sales (backward looking), the remaining indications are that manufacturing will continue to slow as consumers have changed direction on their confidence of an economic recovery. Add that to the increasing Inventory-to-Sales Ratio and it seems obvious that there is going to be a slow slog over the next few months.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey is a monthly survey of manufacturers in New York State conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Participants from across the state in a variety of industries respond to a questionnaire and report the change in a variety of indicators from the previous month. Respondents also state the likely direction of these same indicators six months ahead. April 2002 is the first report, although survey data date back to July 2001. Each month, new data will be released and the previous month’s data will be revised slightly. Once per year, all data will undergo a benchmark revision.