New York state manufacturing activity rose more than expected in December, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, which also noted the persistence of “substantial” inflationary pressures as both the current and future input price and selling price gauges remaining close to record highs. The headline general business index in the New York Fed’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey (pdf), published Dec. 15, rose to 31.9 from 30.9 in November, beating consensus forecasts for a much lower reading of 25.0. “The uptick in the Empire State index is a surprise, given that October’s surge came out of the blue; we expected a correction,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, according to MT Newswires. The prices paid index, which reflects input costs for manufacturers, edged down three percentage points to 80.2, though it remained not far off its record high of 83.5 reached in May. The prices received index …