US DATA
December's Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey beat expectations with a headline reading of positive 3.4 vs -3.0 expected and -2.7 prior. That's the first positive reading in 32 months and the highest in 33, highlighted by a much stronger new orders reading (up 11 points to -0.9, pointing to unchanged demand from the prior month but still the best reading in 31 months).
- Other readings were mostly stronger vs November, including production, capacity utilization, shipments, expectations, though the employment subindices were a little softer.
- Notably though, there were much lower inflationary pressures evident in the survey, with raw materials prices falling 18 points to a 17-month low 10.5, with finished goods falling 12 points to -3.4, the first negative reading this year.
- Dallas is the 5th regional Fed to publish its December manufacturing report, and overall they were very mixed: Empire fell to 0.2 from 31.2 and Philly to -16.4 from -5.5, with Kansas City to -4 from -2, more than offsetting the improvements in Richmond (-10 from -14) and Dallas.
- That's not to mention the December MNI Chicago PMI which fell to 36.9 vs 40.2 prior, and the preliminary S&P Global PMI dipping to 48.3 from 49.7.
- As such despite an apparent improvement in some regional survey optimism immediately following the November elections (and again, this was quite mixed - the range of survey scores was the broadest since April 2020), the overall theme of the manufacturing sector remaining steady at a weak level generally remains intact.
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