Economics; Empire Manufacturing; Net buying of equities, notes and bonds

· Empire Manufacturing - The first regional manufacturing survey for May, from the NY Fed, shows a slowing from very strong growth. The headline reading of the Empire State survey declined from 31.9 in April to 19.1 in May, a larger pullback than many had expected. Key activity measures also declined, with new orders declining from 29.5 in April to 14.3 in May and shipments declining from 32.1 to 11.3.  Feroli 

· Net buying of equities, notes and bonds totaled $140.5 billion in March compared with net buying of $47.1 billion in February (the St was looking for $50B of buys).  China’s Treasury holdings rose by $17.7 billion to $895.2 billion in March, the highest level since November – Bloomberg