A report published Friday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that manufacturing had expanded beyond expectations in the region during the month of January, pointing to gains in production as a cause of the lifting economy.
The New York Fed's general economic index rose to 15.9 from 4.5 in December, and readings above zero signal expansion in manufacturing in New York State and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Lean inventories combined with gains in consumer and business spending have led the turnaround in combination with strong growth in export demand, which has showed seven straight months of improvement as of November, on the back of a relatively weak U.S. dollar.
3 comments:
I think these are all great things but just like the FED, I'm still worried about when consumer confidence is going to pick up and we can be comfortable spending our money again.
Agreed. Until the US manufacturing sector is robust enough to support job growth and putting the unemployed back to work consumer confidence will remain low, risking a jobless recovery and endangering the top to bottom economic growth that this country so desperately needs. In addition, balancing a recovery on the back of exports can only work for so long - the US needs to use this as a springboard to create jobs and get people to spend more of their newfound paychecks, thereby reinforcing these gains domestically.
The increase in manufacturing and production is great news for our recovering economy. Now is the time to build inventories back up. Adam, as you mentioned above, I agree with the USA needs to take this positive cue to ignite other sectors and boost jobs which will help consumers spend more money.
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