NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A key regional reading on manufacturing Friday showed an improvement that was better than than Wall Street expectations.
The Chicago purchasing managers' index, a report from area manufacturers rose to 63.9 from 57.6 in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast the overall index would rise to 61.
Any reading on the index or its component parts above 50 indicates growth. The employment part of the index crossed that 50 threshhold in April, coming in at 51.5 compared to 49.0 in March.
Other parts of the index showed strong a growth outlook across many key measures. Production and new orders continued to expand, as did order backlog and inventories.
The one area of concern for investors could be the prices paid index, which edged up to 76.1 from 75.7 in February. Concern that inflation is making a comeback is likely to prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to cool off the economy.
The Fed meets Tuesday, and while no change in rates is expected at that meeting, interest rate hikes are now expected this summer or early fall.
Other manufacturing readings have shown improvement in April, including readings from the New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve banks. The Chicago PMI comes from the National Association of Purchasing Managers-Chicago.
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