Central Atlantic manufacturing shows gains

Central Atlantic manufacturing pressed forward in November after a stagnant two months, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va., said Tuesday. The manufacturing index for the Federal Reserve's Fifth District, which posted levels of zero in September and 1 in October, added 12 points to reach 13 in November, the Fed said. The index measuring the volume of new orders rose from zero to 15 in November, while the shipments index jumped from minus 2 to 16. The index marking the backlog of orders climbed from minus 15 to minus 1. The capacity utilization index, which measures the rate of production, rose from minus 5 to zero. Indexes that measure employment showed a lag. The number of employees index moved up slightly, moving from 4 to 6. The indexes for wages and average workweek hours showed bigger gains, climbing to 15 (from 9) and 12 (from minus 1), respectively. "Manufacturers were optimistic about their future business prospects. Firms anticipated shipments and the volume of new orders would grow more quickly during the next six months.," the monthly report said.