KC Fed manufacturing activity slows again

Tenth District manufacturing continued to fall this month as future expectations remained flat, according to July's Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City survey..The monthly composite index, an average of the indexes for production, new orders, employment, supplier delivery time and raw materials, increased one point to -11. In June, regional manufacturing fell 11 points to -12 due to drops in both durable and non-durable goods, while expectations fell into negative territory..The pace of declines eased for durable goods while remaining steady for nondurables. Month-over-month indexes remained negative, except prices paid for raw materials and the number of employees. The production index decreased, while the volumes of new orders, shipments and backlog of orders all fell. "Year-over-year production and volume of shipments turned positive while capital expenditures grew further," the report stated. . Districts paid more for raw materials on both a monthly and yearly basis. "Prices received for finished products declined moderately month-over-month," the report stated. "Heading forward, firms expect input prices to increase at a faster pace, and finished product prices to increase at a slower pace." .Fifty-six percent of firms said profit margins had decreased since the start of the year, while 27 percent experienced an increase. Seventy-five percent said supply chain issues had eased from a year ago.