UPDATE 1-NY Fed manufacturing growth up in January

By Burton Frierson

NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Manufacturing growth in New York state accelerated more rapidly than expected in January on surging new orders and shipments, while employment also improved, the New York Federal Reserve said on Friday.

The New York Fed's 'Empire State' general business conditions index jumped to 15.92 in January from a revised 4.50 in December. Last month's reading was originally reported as 2.55.

Economists expected a rise to 11.28, according to a Reuters poll, with forecasts ranging from 2.60 to 18.00.

'It's not a surprise to see better-than-expected manufacturing data. A point of this recovery, outside of fiscal stimulus, is that the U.S. manufacturing sector is already on the rebound,' said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist, BNY Mellon, New York.

'CPI does not appear to be flashing significant inflationary pressure.'

The Empire State report had little effect on financial markets since it came at the same time as a separate report that showed tame growth in the U.S. consumer price index.

On Wall Street, U.S. stock index futures trimmed their losses after the data.

Long-dated U.S. government bonds, which usually lose ground on signs of improving growth or inflation, added to gains after the morning's reports.

The data was generally consistent with the tentative recovery taking place in the U.S. economy, though it also showed signs of rebounding price pressures, which the Federal Reserve is likely to watch closely.

The survey of manufacturing plants in the state is one of the earliest monthly guideposts to U.S. factory conditions.

Readings above zero indicate growth.

The report's gauge of new orders jumped to 20.48 from December's 2.77, while shipments increased to 21.07 from 8.38.

The number of employees index rose to 4.0 from minus 5.26.

On the inflation front, prices paid surged to 32.0 from 19.74. Prices received rose to 2.67 from minus 9.21.

(Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) Keywords: USA ECONOMY/NYFED ([e-mail];[phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.