Philly Fed Manufacturing Sample Snaps Back

The Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing sample has really snapped back, at an index of 16.8 for August that tops Econoday's consensus range for a second straight month. New orders are pouring into the sample, at 25.8 and even better than July's 18.9. This will be a big plus for future backlogs which are already in positive ground.

Understandable give back hit employment which still rose in the month but only at a 3.6 score which, nevertheless, is on top of July's espically strong 30.0. The 6-month outlook also had a tough comparison, down 5 points at 32.6 after spiking 17 points in July.

This report has been unusually volatile in recent showings but nevertheless contrasts with mostly soft readings in other manufacturing data. Yet Empire State, released at the same time as the Philly this morning, was also favorable though expectations for the manufacturing component of the industrial production, which is coming up today at 9:15 a.m. ET, are downbeat.