Business activity for New York manufacturers expanded at a faster pace in the month of January, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed in a report on Wednesday, with the index of regional activity rising much more than anticipated.
The New York Fed said its general business conditions index jumped to 12.5 in January from 2.2 in December, with a positive reading indicating an increase in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to climb to 3.5.
With the bigger than expected increase, the general business conditions index rose to its highest level since reaching 15.9 in May of 2012.
The report showed a notable turnaround by new orders, as the new orders index surged up to a positive 11.0 in January from a negative 1.7 in December. The increase lifted the index to a two-year high.
Additionally, the shipments index climbed to 15.5 in January from 4.7 in December, indicating an acceleration in the pace of growth.
The number of employees index also showed a significant increase, climbing to 12.2 in January after coming in at zero for two consecutive months.
On the inflation front, the prices paid index jumped to 36.6 in January from 15.7 in December, while the prices received index climbed to 13.4 from 3.6.
With the increases, both the prices paid index and the prices received index reached their highest levels in over a year.
The New York Fed said the indexes for the six-month outlook remained fairly optimistic, although the future general business conditions dipped to 37.5 in January from 39.0 in December.
Peter Boockvar, managing director at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, following mediocre reads in the prior 3 months, we saw a broad based improvement in January but with a coincident rise in prices."
"In terms of the entire country, the NY figure hasn't recently correlated well lately with others so we'll wait to see more regional surveys, like Philly tomorrow, in order to draw a broader conclusion," he added.
Thursday morning, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its monthly report on regional manufacturing activity. Economists expect the Philly Fed Index to climb to 8.7 in January from 7.0 in December.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.