the numbers the new york fed’s empire state business conditions index plunged 149 points to negative 118 in march the regional fed bank said tuesday economists had expected a reading of 55 according to a survey by the wall street journal any reading below zero indicates deteriorating conditions the index hit its lowest level since may 2020 key details both orders and shipments declined in march the survey showed there were “ongoing substantial increases” in input and selling prices the neworders index fell 126 points to negative 112 in march and the shipments index fell 103 points to negative 74 unfilled orders slipped 13 points to 131 in march while delivery times rose 111 points to 327 inventories rose 98 points to 215 in march the highest level in years the new york fed said the prices received indexes inched higher to a record high in march firms were generally optimistic about the next six months with the future business conditions index rising 84 points to 366 big picture economists were worried that the shock from russia’s invasion of ukraine might pull the empire state index down in march the empire state index is the first of several regional manufacturing gauges to be released they can frequently be volatile from month to month but taken together they present one of the timeliest reads on the sector manufacturing has been a bright spot of the pandemic the institute for supply management’s factory index has been above the 50 level that indicates improving conditions for 21 straight months in february the ism manufacturing index rose to 586 from 576 in the prior month market reaction stocks djia spx were set to open slightly higher on tuesday as the federal reserve starts a twoday policy meeting