District Fed factory gauges likely to improve in October

Canvasses of local firms conducted by the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Philadelphia will provide early glimpses at factory activity in October and will allow to do some spade work on the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) upcoming report. 

"The net percentage of respondents noting that business was weaker than in September is expected to narrow in both regional surveys. The general business conditions gauge in the Empire State Manufacturing Survey likely improved by 7.2 percentage points to -7.5%, while the contractionary reading in the Philadelphia Outlook Survey was halved to -3.0%", says Societe Generale. 

Taken together, the anticipated October "improvements" would be consistent with the ISM Purchasing Managers' Index climbing modestly to 50.8 this month.