Seeking Alpha Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad  Yesterday's
strong rally in stocks is being credited to a favorable Empire
State Manufacturing Survey. This survey is administered by the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Not surprisingly, investors
reacted primarily to the headline, which does indeed suggest
that things are getting better. Keep in mind, however, that the
survey covers business conditions in just one state.
Furthermore, the results are derived by surveying only 200 top
executives at New York manufacturing companies; of which only
about 100 actually responded.  That so many investors would pay
this much attention to a rather esoteric report seems a bit odd.
At least for today anyway, investors chose to buy stocks due to
how 100 executives responded to this one question: "What is your
evaluation of the level of general business activity?" The New
York Fed was not looking for a well thought out essay. Instead,
it was a multiple choice question with only three possible
answers: Decrease, No Cha