Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions contracted unexpectedly in June, dampening optimism over the strength of the economy, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index fell to -2.0 this month from a reading of 3.1 in May. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 6.0 in June.
The new orders index fell six points to -2.1, and the shipments index edged down to 12.0.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The index for future general business conditions retreated in June, suggesting that optimism about future business conditions waned.
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 1.1229 from around 1.1217 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5521 from 1.5511 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 123.39 from 123.47 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.49, compared to 95.53 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a drop of 0.5% at the open, the S&P 500 futures declined 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.5%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,179.90 a troy ounce, compared to $1,178.90 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $59.55 a barrel from $59.59 earlier.