Manufacturing firms reported continued growth in regional manufacturing in October. The survey's current indicators for general activity, new orders, shipments, and employment all remained positive this month. Both of the survey's current labor market indicators showed notable improvement. The indexes assessing the six-month outlook suggest that firms remained optimistic about future growth.

The index for current manufacturing activity in the region increased 4 points to a reading of 27.9 and is now at its highest reading since May (see Chart 1). More than 39 percent of the firms indicated increases in activity this month, while 11 percent reported decreases. Both the new orders and shipments indexes remained positive but fell this month, decreasing 10 points and 13 points, respectively. Both the unfilled orders and delivery times indexes were positive for the 12th consecutive month, suggesting longer delivery times and an increase in unfilled orders.