Mid-Atlantic Manufacturing Sector Picks up Steam

Factory activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region grew in October, snapping five months of contraction, although the pace of expansion was still modest, a survey showed on Thursday.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index rose to 5.7 f rom minus 1.9 the month before. That topped economists' expectations for a gain to 1, according to a Reuters poll.

Any reading above zero indicates expansion in the region's manufacturing.

The survey covers factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware and is seen as one of the first monthly indicators of the health of U.S. manufacturing leading up to the national report by the Institute for Supply Management. (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by James Dalgleish)