State's downturn eases slightly in January.

The article reports on the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey which depicted that business conditions for New York State manufacturers deteriorated for the fifth consecutive month in January 2009. The survey report, which was issued on January 15 by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, indicated that the general business conditions index rose slightly to 22.2 points from 27.88 in December 2008. It says that 18% of survey respondents said that conditions had improved in January.