Philly Fed's manufacturing gauge slumps to 20-month low
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said on Thursday that its monthly manufacturing index fell for a second straight month to negative 16.4 - the lowest since April 2023 - from negative 5.5 in November. The regional report from the Philly Fed suggests the factory sector, accounting for just over 10% of the economy, is continuing to struggle finding its footing in the wake of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023. While the Fed has shifted to rate cuts in the last half of this year, it is not expected to ease that much further from here and market-based measures of borrowing costs remain notably higher than they were in early 2022 and continue to exert pressure on investment.