Empire manufacturing unexpectedly climbs

empire state conservation

(Getty Images for The Oceanic Preservation Society)

Empire manufacturing unexpectedly rose.

The latest Empire manufacturing index came in at 1.50 for November, above economists' expectations of -2.50.

This was the first time the headline number pulled out of negative territory in four months.

Last month, the index unexpectedly collapsed to -6.80.

New orders and shipments turned positive, but labor market conditions remained "weak." The number of employees and average workweek indexes came in at -10.9, according to the report. Additionally, the inventories index fell 11 points to -23.6.

And finally, the index for future business conditions fell by 6 points to 29.9, suggesting that "respondents were somewhat less optimistic about future conditions than they were last month."

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