June Manufacturing Activity In Texas Moves Higher, Dallas Fed Says

Factory activity in Texas continued to rise in June, according to firms responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Most measures of current activity increased over the previous month, including production, capacity utilization, and volume of new orders, growth rate of orders, unfilled orders and volume of shipments.

Despite a reported increase in prices paid for raw materials by most firms, the index was slightly lower from May due to a small increase of firms reporting no change in raw material costs. The index of prices received for finished goods was also slightly below the previous month’s value. Most manufacturers however, expect to be paying higher prices for raw materials and finished goods in the next six months.

The indexes for company outlook and the level of general business activity grew more slowly in June, continuing a slow down that began earlier this year. The index values for company outlook and level of general business activity six months from now have also slowed during the second quarter.

June indexes for production, capacity utilization, and volume of new orders continued to improve after a drop in April. Forty-eight percent of responding firms reported an increase in production at their facilities in Texas in June. Only 9.5% reported a decrease in production.