April 27, 2009, Texas Manufacturing Slump Moderates, Six-Month Outlook Improves: The decline in Texas manufacturing activity slowed in April, according to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. Indexes for production, capacity utilization, volume of new orders and shipments edged upward for the second consecutive month, but they remained negative, indicating manufacturers are still retrenching. For the most part, the gains reflect fewer companies seeing declines in these measures, not more firms reporting recoveries. Although still negative, the business activity index—the survey’s broadest measure of state manufacturing trends—saw improvement as the share of companies reporting better market conditions rose from March to April. The company outlook index strengthened, recovering the ground lost since September. Manufacturers continued to draw down inventories. The index for materials inventories remained close to the previous month’s record low, and over a third of those responding noted declines in their finished goods inventory levels.”