U.S. Fed's factory surveys to reveal slower pace of expansion in August

U.S. Empire State Manufacturing Survey to release manufacturing today. 

Societe Generale expects the headline figure to dip by 1.5 points to 2.4% in August and a touch below the mean year-to-date reading of 4.1%. 

"Likewise, the net percentage of respondents acknowledging an improvement in general business conditions in the Philadelphia Business Outlook Survey probably contracted by 1.2 percentage points to an 18-month low of 4.5%. Taken together, the above projections would be consistent with the ISM's purchasing managers' gauge retreating slightly to 52.3 in the upcoming report", says SocGen.

Canvasses conducted by the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Philadelphia will provide early glimpses at manufacturing activity in August and will allow to do some spadework on the projection for the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) report, adds SocGen. Business probably expanded in both districts during the reference period, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in July.