The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business declined to 51.6 in January from 57.6 in December, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Friday.
New orders received fell to 49.4 from 64.2, production climbed to 63.4 from 62.2, employment gained to 54.6 from 52.6, supplier deliveries dropped to 51.7 from 59.0, and backlog of orders rose to 44.4 from 36.7.
Inventory levels slid to 38.9 from 50.0, customers' inventories remained at 50.0, prices dropped to 33.3 from 40.0, exports held at 50.0 and imports slipped to 57.7 from 59.1.
The blue collar diffusion index rose to 57.3 from 52.6, while the white collar diffusion index declined to 45.8 from 52.6.
