US: Manufacturing activity expanded moderately - Kansas Fed

"The survey revealed that Tenth District manufacturing activity expanded moderately with solid expectations for future activity," Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said on Thursday.

Key quotes:

• We’ve now seen four months of steady gains following more rapid growth in factory activity earlier this year
• Firms overall seem confident that moderate growth will continue
• The production index tumbled from 23 to 4, and the shipments index fell into negative territory for the first time since August 2016
• The month-over-month composite index was 10 in July, down slightly from 11 in June but up from 8 in May
• The employment index remained solid, while the new orders index rose modestly, and the order backlog index also increased but remained negative