The crash in oil prices is weighing on Texas' economy.

The January Texas manufacturing survey from the Dallas Fed was a huge miss, with the general business activity reading coming in at -4.4.

Expectations were for the composite index to come in at 3.0, down from 4.1 in December. Factory activity in the region was flat in January.

The big takeaway, however, is that as with last month, numerous business executives expressed concerns over how the crash in crude oil prices would affect results.

One executive in the fabricated metal manufacturing sector said "multiple oil-related customers have sent out letters to all suppliers saying they expect 25 percent price reductions."

Another executive in this same sector said: "The tremendous drop in oil price is just starting to trickle its way through our customer base. We deal with the majors, and they have not signaled significant reductions in maintenance spending yet. If low oil prices continue, we would expect a significant drop-off in our business."

A machinery-manufacturing executive said: "Oil below $50 is tough. We'll have to see how long it takes to stabilize." Though another executive in the same sector said: "We have yet to see any effect of lower oil prices in our sales backlog. Activity and interest remain strong in spite of headlines to the contrary."

A food-manufacturing executive said the decline in oil prices had positively affected the input costs of the executive's business, adding that a strong US dollar had been a positive impact.

The future around the price of oil, and in turn much of the Texas economy's recovery, remains uncertain. As one wood-product-manufacturing executive said:

"Like everyone, we are concerned about oil prices and are uncertain about the effect on construction in Texas. Will a good recovery slow or, worse yet, end? We don't know."



NOW WATCH: 5 Ways Supermarkets Trick You Into Spending More Money