Monday, February 02, 2009

PMI Index Up--Slightly

Confirming the slow and arduous strengthening found in the financial markets, the PMI (manufacturing) index inched upward in January. Although still indicating contraction, the index "surprised on the upside."

...manufacturing index rose to 35.6 in January from an upwardly revised 32.9 in December. The January reading was above the 32.6 that economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected.

As other reports made clear, inventories are a problem area--and a rebound in the automotive sector would do wonders for the PMI index.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Tried (and I mean it took a lot of effort) to buy a new Dryer) on Friday. You'd think stores would want my business. You'd be wrong. I was greeted at Appliance World with screeching and near demonic heavy metal music. Yeah, that puts me in the mood for spending 500.00 bucks. At Sears, they couldn't deliver the dryer I wanted until Feb 14th. So I don't know if it's an inventory, logstics problems... or everyone so frozen with fear that nothing gets done.

Dad29 said...

VERY odd that Sears doesn't have your item. A two-week delay in shipment is astounding.

Anonymous said...

Actually I would have purchased one of TWO models, neither of which would've shown up until Feb 14th. Does this mean their Distribution is as incompetent as their sales people... or that the Dryer hasn't yet been built and won't be until it's purchased.

Someone in Sears Mgt does NOT deserve a bonus.

Shoebox said...

There are persistent rumors about Sears/Kmart bankruptcy. I suspect they mayv have some manufacturers who have them on very tight leashes right now. Also, they are likely bringing their inventories down to levels where an extra sale or two here or there could put them out of stock especially on big ticket items.