The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business declined to 50.3 in February from 51.6 in January, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Friday.
New orders received fell to 41.7 from 49.4, production slumped to 45.5 from 63.4, employment gained to 58.1 from 54.6, supplier deliveries grew to 59.2 from 51.7, and backlog of orders fell to 38.2 from 44.4.
Inventory levels rose to 47.1 from 38.9, customers' inventories increased to 61.8 from 50.0, prices climbed to 38.2 from 33.3, exports gained to 53.9 from 50.0 and imports slipped to 43.3 from 57.7.
The blue collar diffusion index dropped to 46.5 from 57.3, while the white collar diffusion index grew to 58.1 from 45.8.
