Investing.com - The New York Federal Reserve’s index of manufacturing conditions in tumbled to its lowest level since 2009 in August as new orders fell sharply, according to a report released on Monday.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index dropped to -14.9 this month from 3.86 in July.
Economists had forecast an uptick to 5.0.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
The new orders and shipments indexes fell sharply, to -15.7 and -13.8 respectively, pointing to a marked decline.
Price indexes showed that input prices were slightly higher, while selling prices were flat. Labor market indicators suggested that employment levels and hours worked were little changed.
Indexes for the six-month outlook registered somewhat greater optimism than in July, with the future general business conditions index rising seven points to 33.6.
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.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 96.59, from around 96.71 ahead of the report.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a broadly lower open. The Dow futures were down 0.39%, the S&P 500 futures were down 0.39%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.32%.