Friday, August 02, 2024

ISM's PMI Seriously Down

We haven't looked at the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing index for a while.  So when Breitbart mentioned it, we were .......well...........Bidenomics!

...The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Thursday released the results of its latest monthly survey of executives in the manufacturing sector. The so-called Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) slip to 46.8 in July from 48.5 in June. Numbers below 50 indicate a contraction.

Manufacturing has been in contraction for four straight months, according to the ISM. In fact, it has been in contraction for 20 out of the last 21 months....

Some key indicators:

...The production gauge plunged 2.6 points to 45.9, the worst reading since the economy was largely locked down in May 2020.

The
employment measure fell 5.9 points to 43.4, the lowest reading in four years. In a separate report this week, payroll-processor ADP said that private sector manufacturing employment fell in July.

The index of
new orders, a key measure of demand, fell 1.9 points to a soft 47.4....

A low New Orders number means employment ain't going up anytime soon.

S&P puts out an index, too, more-or-less competing with the PMI.  There is some good news there; after Biden/Harris dumped a ton of money into tax breaks and subsidies geared toward building new factories, building new factories happened!

...last month, construction spending occurred at an annual pace of more than $235 billion. Compared with a year ago, construction spending on manufacturing is up 19 percent. Compared with the prepandemic level, it is up a stunning 200 percent....

Those new factories will employ people, but whether they're just transferred from 'old' factories or are new hires remains to be seen.  If that New Orders slump in the PMI holds, those new factories may be kinda quiet.

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