Empire manufacturing unexpectedly climbs

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Empire manufacturing unexpectedly rose.

The latest Empire manufacturing index came in at 1.50 for November, above economists' expectations of -2.50.

This was the first time the headline number pulled out of negative territory in four months.

Last month, the index unexpectedly collapsed to -6.80. 

New orders and shipments turned positive, but labor market conditions remained "weak." The number of employees and average workweek indexes came in at -10.9, according to the report. Additionally, the inventories index fell 11 points to -23.6.

And finally, the index for future business conditions fell by 6 points to 29.9, suggesting that "respondents were somewhat less optimistic about future conditions than they were last month."

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