The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business slumped to 46.73 in July from 60.22 in June, according to the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee.
New orders received fell to 41.00 from 55.80, production dropped to 43.90 from 60.70, employment plunged to 51.30 from 73.80, supplier deliveries slid to 51.10 from 51.90, and backlog of orders fell to 32.00 from 55.77.
Inventory levels declined to 46.30 from 58.90, customers' inventories gained to 43.18 from 40.00, prices grew to 46.30 from 37.50, exports decreased to 52.50 from 52.63 and imports slid to 50.00 from 58.33.
The blue collar diffusion index decreased to 51.4 from 63.3, while the white collar diffusion index fell to 53.1 from 66.8.
Respondents' comments included:
--Cost drivers and commodity markets (i.e.: prices) have been stable and quiet, during the month.
--Seeing pull-back in Q4 forecast from customers in US and Europe (7-15%); China still not showing recovery signs while India has shown some resurgence in demand for H2
--The heat is impacting our milk supply. Cows are stressed!
--New orders have slowed....business seems almost paralyzed until the election is behind us.
