The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index decreased to minus 10.7 in November from 5.7 a month earlier. A reading of zero is the dividing line between expansion and contraction in the area covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. Economists forecast the gauge would decline to 2, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from minus 10 to 8. Another report showed manufacturing in the New York region contracted for a fourth straight month in November as superstorm Sandy knocked out electrical power and limited activity. The Federal Reserve ... (full story)