June Empire State index slips below zero (by Greg Robb)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Manufacturing activity deteriorated sharply in the New York region in June, according to the Empire State manufacturing survey released Wednesday by the New York Federal Reserve. The Empire State index fell below zero to -7.8 in June from 11.9 in May. This is the first time the index has been below zero since last November. The decline in June was unexpected. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected the index to rebound to 13.3 in June. The data is likely to raise concern that the slowdown seen in manufacturing in May could be more than a temporary soft-patch. The details of the report were weak. The index for the number of employees dropped 15 points. The new orders and shipments indexes also fell sharply into negative territory.