Economy

U.S. Manufacturing Sector Barely Expands, More Industries Contract than Grow

The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Report On Business Survey. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, the Institute for Supply Management gauge of national factory activity crawled out of contraction to 51.5 in September. That’s an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the August reading of 49.4 percent.

However, while the manufacturing sector grew overall, more industries reported contraction than expansion.

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 7 are reporting growth in September in the following order: Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Furniture & Related Products; Textile Mills; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; and Paper Products.

The 11 industries reporting contraction in September — listed in order — are: Printing & Related Support Activities; Petroleum & Coal Products; Wood Products; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Transportation Equipment; Machinery; Plastics & Rubber Products; Primary Metals; Fabricated Metal Products; Chemical Products; and Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components.

MANUFACTURING AT A GLANCE September 2016
Index	Series Index Sep	Series Index Aug	Percentage Point Change	Direction	Rate of Change	Trend* (Months)
PMI^®	51.5	49.4	+2.1	Growing	From Contracting	1
New Orders	55.1	49.1	+6.0	Growing	From Contracting	1
Production	52.8	49.6	+3.2	Growing	From Contracting	1
Employment	49.7	48.3	+1.4	Contracting	Slower	3
Supplier Deliveries	50.3	50.9	-0.6	Slowing	Slower	5
Inventories	49.5	49.0	+0.5	Contracting	Slower	15
Customers’ Inventories	53.0	49.5	+3.5	Too High	From Too Low	1
Prices	53.0	53.0	0.0	Increasing	Same	7
Backlog of Orders	49.5	45.5	+4.0	Contracting	Slower	3
New Export Orders	52.0	52.5	-0.5	Growing	Slower	7
Imports	49.0	47.0	+2.0	Contracting	Slower	2
OVERALL ECONOMY				Growing	Faster	88
Manufacturing Sector				Growing	From Contracting	1

Manufacturing ISM^® Report On Business^® data is seasonally adjusted for the New Orders, Production, Employment and Supplier Deliveries Indexes.

*Number of months moving in current direction.

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PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.