The good news: According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, manufacturing activity in Texas continued to expand in May 2019. The somewhat mediocre news: The expansion took place at a slower pace, according to business executives responding to the Dallas Fed’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey.
Specifically, the production index, a measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell six points to 6.3. The new orders index fell seven points to 2.4, while growth rate of orders index was at 1.1, down from 5.2. Capacity utilization fell to 7.7 from a seven-month high of 15.6 in April.
Interestingly enough, expectations regarding future business conditions remained positive in May, even as statistics did move down from April readings. The index of future general business activity fell nines points to 9.1, while the index of future company outlook also fell nine points to 11.5. Additional future manufacturing activity indexes also declined in May, but remained in positive territory.