Philadelphia factory activity picks up sharply in July

Manufacturing activity in Philadelphia has accelerated strongly in July, the latest data showed.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index was reported at a reading of 13.9 in July, up from 1.3 in June.

In comparison, market consensus had pointed to a reading of 2.9.

In July, the gauge of shipments improved to 27.8 from -7.2 in June, the gauge of new orders improved to 20.7 from -2.2, while the gauge of employment rose to 15.2 from -2.5.

On the price front, both price gauges still reflected overall increases in price levels, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said.

The US Dollar Index, which reflects the relative strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, settled 0.18% higher at 104.365 on Friday.

The DXY registered a 0.27% weekly gain, as Treasury yields rose, while a global cyber outage disrupted operations across a number of industries on Friday.