The May ISM Manufacturing Survey shows PMI crumbled by -1.7 percentage points to 49.0%. Manufacturing has moved into contraction. Manufacturing also contracted in November 2012 and previous to that, July 2009. Both new orders and production contracted indicating bad news for the U.S. manufacturing sector and the index details are even more ominous.
The April 2013 ISM Manufacturing Survey shows PMI slid by -0.6 percentage points to 50.7%. This is expansion but much slower. Expansion has occurred for the 5th month in a row., although this is the lowest PMI of 2013. Overall the report implies a stagnant manufacturing sector, ho hum, and not much to write home about.
The March 2013 Federal Reserve's Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization report shows a monthly increase of 0.4% in industrial production. March's increase would have been non-existent if the weather hadn't turned cold. Utilities' output increased 3.5% for March as mining fell -0.2% and Manufacturing dropped -0.1% for the month. February was revised up to a 1.1% increase, buoyed again by utilities. Q1 2013 gives an annualized output gain of 5.0%, the largest since Q1 2012. The Q1 output gain was spurred by utilities, which by itself grew 10.5% for Q1 2013.
The BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 88,000 for March 2013, with 20,300 of those jobs being temporary. February was revised up by 32,000 to 268,000 jobs gained and January was also revised up by 29,000 to show payrolls gained 148,000 employees for that month.
The February 2013 ISM Manufacturing Survey shows PMI increased by 1.1 percentage points to 54.2% and is in expansion for the 3rd month in a row. This is the 5th time in nine months manufacturing PMI has been in expansion and the highest manufacturing PMI since June 2011. Overall the report is solid manufacturing expansion and a pleasant surprise considering U.S. politics.
The January 2013 Federal Reserve's Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization report shows a monthly decline of 0.1% in industrial production. January's decline would have been much worse if the weather hadn't turned cold. Utilities' output increased 3.5% for January as mining fell 1.0%. Manufacturing alone dropped -0.4% for the month.
The January 2012 ISM Manufacturing Survey shows PMI increased by 2.9 percentage points to 53.1% and is in expansion for the 2nd month in a row. This is the 4th time in eight months manufacturing PMI has been in expansion. Overall the report is actually modest expansion, although all five indexes which make up PMI were on the positive side.
The BLS unemployment report shows total nonfarm payroll jobs gained were 155,000 for December 2012. October was revised down by 1,000 to 137,000 job and November was revised up, from 146,000 to 161,000 in employment gained. Many in the press are implying this is a good report when the monthly gain represents the very weak job growth America have been experiencing for the last two years.
The December 2012 ISM Manufacturing Survey shows PMI increased by 1.2 percentage points to 50.7% and is now in expansion from contraction. This is the 3rd time in seven months manufacturing PMI has been in expansion. Overall the report is a bounce from last month's lows.
Hurricane Sandy has really wreaked havoc with industrial production's monthly percentage changes. Sandy wiped out almost a full percentage point of October's manufacturing production even though the storm hit New Jersey on October 29th. Manufacturing resumed in November, causing a 1.1% increase in manufacturing production.
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