Data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday indicated that manufacturing activity in New York State contracted for the third consecutive month in October, reflecting continuing headwinds for the industrial sector in the face of sluggish demand.

In October, the overall business conditions indicator from the Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to -9.1 from -1.5 in the previous month. This is worse than the minus-5 prediction made by Wall Street Journal economists.

Based on a poll of New York City-area factories, this statistic shows that industrial activity dropped more precipitously than in the previous month.

According to the New York Federal Reserve, almost 32% of businesses surveyed reported worsening business conditions in October, while just 23% reported an improvement.

In October, consumers showed no signs of increasing their spending. The Shipments indicator decreased to minus 0.3 from 19.6, indicating shipments were essentially constant. At the same time, the New Orders index remained stable at 3.7, indicating a minor rise in new orders.

Companies in the region continued to increase their workforce. However, the index for the number of workers somewhat dropped to 7.7 from 9.7 in the previous month.

There was a steady decrease in supply-chain bottlenecks this past month. In October, the unfilled order index increased to minus 3.7 from minus 7.5 the previous month. However, this was still a negative number and was indicative of a fall in unfilled orders. There was little change in vendor lead times as measured by the delivery times index, which dropped to -0.9 from -1.9 in the previous month.

After many months of reductions, the statistics revealed that inflation pressures at factory gates pushed up again in October. A month ago, the indicator measured prices received at 23.6, while the prices paid index was at 48.6.

The indicator for future business conditions among area manufacturers fell to minus 1.8 in October from 8.2 in September, indicating that manufacturers do not anticipate an improvement in business circumstances over the next six months.

Future new order and shipping indices remained negative, but employment is likely to rise further.  The Empire Sate Manufacturing Index forecasts a reduction in delivery times and an increase in capital expenditures in the coming months.