The latest release of the Philly Fed’s manufacturing outlook absolutely crushed expectations on Thursday in another strong sentiment reading for the manufacturing sector.
The index registered a 43.3 for the month, soaring past economists’ expectations for the measure of mid-Atlantic manufacturing of 18.0, and leaping up from the 23.6 reading in January.
The 23.6 from last month was a sizable beat over expectations of 15.8 and the Empire State Manufacturing index – which measures manufacturing activity in New York – came in ahead of expectations on Wednesday as well in a stream of solid data.
According to a tweet from Bespoke Investment Group, this is the highest reading for the index since 1984 and the biggest beat relative to expectations since 1998.
Overall, the data also seems to indicate a huge leap for current activity as firms reported higher sales and shipments.
"The index for current new orders increased 12 points this month (with 44 percent of the firms reporting increases and just 6 percent reporting decreases)," said the release from the Philly Fed. "The shipments index increased 8 points. Other broad indicators also corroborate growth."
Additionally 15% of firms reported an increase in hiring for the month, while only 4% reported a decrease.