Manufacturing showed a modest improvement in August for the region that includes South Jersey, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.In its monthly Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey, the Philadelphia Fed found that its index for current activity entered positive territory for only the third time this year.



On the other hand, the current new orders index fell into negative territory, as did the indexes for unfilled orders and delivery times. The index for inventories, already negative, dropped even further, as did the employment index and workweek index.



However, the current shipments index rose slightly, and the prices paid index nearly doubled.



The survey found optimism for the coming months, as the index of future activity rose to its highest level since January 2015.

