Philly Fed: Manufacturing index improved to 26.2 from 22.7 in December

"Results from the December Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey suggest that regional manufacturing conditions continued to improve. Indexes for general activity, new orders, and shipments were all positive this month and increased from their readings last month," the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported on Thursday.

Key highlights

The diffusion index for current general activity increased from a reading of 22.7 in November to 26.2 this month.

Nearly 41 percent of the firms indicated increases in activity this month, up from 35 percent in November.

Both the current new orders and shipments indexes also improved this month, increasing 8 points and 2 points, respectively.

Although they moderated slightly, both the delivery times and unfilled orders indexes remained positive, suggesting longer delivery times and increases in unfilled orders.

The percentage of firms reporting lower inventories (19 percent) was slightly higher than the percentage reporting higher inventories (17 percent).