New York Area Manufacturing Unexpectedly Contracts

Manufacturing in the New York region unexpectedly shrank in May as factories received fewer orders and sales stagnated.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index declined to minus 1.4 this month from 3.1 in April. Readings less than zero signal contraction in New York, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey called for an increase to 4.