The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business slumped to 39.4 in September from 47.7 in August, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Wednesday.
New orders received fell to 35.5 from 47.5, production gained to 35.3 from 32.8, employment declined to 41.9 from 47.0, supplier deliveries slid to 53.3 from 57.4, and backlog of orders dropped to 37.5 from 57.1.
Inventory levels plunged to 31.3 from 53.6, customers’ inventories rose to 53.3 from 46.4, prices dropped to 21.9 from 28.6, exports rose to 40.9 from 36.4 and imports increased to 54.6 from 45.5.
The blue collar diffusion index slipped to 45.1 from 54.3, while the white collar diffusion index rose to 58.0 from 50.7.
