Washington (awp/afp) – The index of manufacturing activity in the New York region, in the northeastern United States, fell sharply in January, a further sign of the economic slowdown underway in the country , or even a risk of recession in the coming months.
The index measuring this activity fell by 22 points compared to December, to settle at -32.9 points, according to the monthly Empire State survey, published Tuesday by the New York Fed and carried out among industrialists from the region, which represents the lowest level since mid-2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
On the contrary, analysts expected a slight rise in the index, to -8.5 points (against -11.2 points in December), according to the consensus published by briefing.com.
In detail, all the indicators point to an ongoing slowdown in the US economy: the new orders sub-index and the shipments sub-index are both down sharply, by 28 points, while orders already entered in the business order book fell back by 14.3 points.
As a result, over the past month, 44% of the professionals questioned believe that the situation has worsened while only 11%, on the contrary, have the feeling of an improvement.
This slowdown also slowed down the job market, with the dedicated sub-indicator remaining slightly positive (+2.8 points) but down 11 points over one month and above all at its lowest level for two years.
At the same time, the working time sub-indicator remained negative and falling.
On the outlook side, the future conditions sub-indicator remains positive (+8 points), a sign that companies believe that the slowdown will be temporary and that they expect an improvement in the economic context in the next six months. .
Sign of this relative optimism, the sub-indices relating to investment and technology spending remain high.
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