The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business dropped to 48.4 in April from 51.0 in March, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Tuesday.
New orders received fell to 42.7 from 50.3, production dropped to 48.1 from 53.2, employment decreased to 49.4 from 56.0, supplier deliveries dipped to 50.2 from 51.1, and backlog of orders increased to 46.3 from 41.3.
Inventory levels jumped to 51.8 from 44.2, customers' inventories fell to 41.7 from 52.2, prices dropped to 46.6 from 55.8, exports decreased to 50.0 from 52.6 and imports slid to 54.6 from 59.1.
The blue collar diffusion index decreased to 49.3 from 54.2, while the white collar diffusion index dropped to 49.3 from 50.2.
