Although the week kicked off with a better-than-expected Empire Manufacturing report for the month of April, the report itself wasn't particularly positive. In Monday morning's release, the headline General Business Conditions Index came in at a level of 10.1 versus last month's reading of 3.7 and expectations for a reading of 8.0. While General Business Conditions improved slightly, expectations declined sharply, falling from just under 30 to 12.4.
The disparity in sentiment between current conditions and expectations wasn't just on display in the headline reading either. The table below breaks out the levels of the