Manufacturing Activity Expands for 9th Consecutive Month

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September for the ninth consecutive month, the nation’s supply executives say in the latest Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing PMI Report.

“In September, U.S. manufacturing activity remained in expansion territory. Of the five subindexes that make up the PMI, only New Orders and Employment grew faster than the previous month.

In September, 40% of the comments were positive and 60 percent negative, with a 1-to-1.6 ratio of positive to negative sentiment. Among negative comments, pricing volatility was mentioned in 46%; tariffs, 34%;, the Iran war, 30% and increasing lead times 21%; most comments mentioned multiple factors.

“In September, three of four demand indicators (the New Orders, Backlog of Orders and New Export Orders indexes) remained in expansion, and the Customers’ Inventories Index remained in ‘too low’ territory, contracting at a faster rate. A ‘too low’ status for the Customers’ Inventories Index is usually
considered positive for future production," said Susan Spence, who chairs the ISM manufacturing reports committee..