MW: September Philly Fed manufacturing index improves
By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Business among manufacturers in the Philadelphia region improved modestly in September, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve said Thursday. The bank's business-conditions index rose to -1.9 from -7.1 in August. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected the index to rise to -4.0. The Fed also reported that the index for new orders rose to 1.0 in September from -5.5 in the prior month. The index for employment increased to -7.3 from -8.6 in August. The shipments index, however, dropped to -21.7 from -11.3.
