The headline general business conditions index of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Empire State Manufacturing Survey declined to -4.6 in October from 1.9 in September. This reading came in slightly better than the market expectation of -7.

Key takeaways

"The new orders index dropped nine points to -4.2, pointing to a small decline in orders, and the shipments index fell eleven points to 1.4, a sign that shipments were little changed."

"The index for number of employees rose six points to 3.1, and the average workweek index edged up to 2.2, indicating a slight increase in employment levels and hours worked."

"The index for future business conditions moved down three points to 23.1, suggesting that firms remained relatively optimistic about future conditions." 

Market reaction

The US Dollar stays under modest selling pressure after this report. At the time of press, the US Dollar Index was down 0.3% on the day at 106.35.