LONDON — The MNI Chicago Business Barometer rose 0.2 points to 57.6 in April, up from 57.4 in March, snapping a three-month downward trend.
Business activity continued to rise at a solid pace in April, with growth in firms' operations up for the first time this year, albeit marginally. Three of the five barometer components receded on the month, with only production and supplier deliveries finding room to grow.
While output levels rose in April, driving the rise in the barometer, order book growth softened. The production indicator ended a run of three consecutive falls, although remaining shy of the February level. The new orders indicator, on the other hand, extended the downward momentum shown since the turn of the year, easing to a 15-month low in April. The two indicators account for 60 percent of the headline barometer and sit 2.2% and 10.4% below their respective year-ago levels.
Firms' levels of unfulfilled orders continued to recede in April, falling for the fourth straight month and slipping below the neutral-mark for the first time in a year. Backlogs rose sharply at the tail end of last year but have fallen just as quickly, as temporary factors faded away and demand softened.
Supplier delivery times continued to lengthen, however, with evidence from multiple survey respondents that sourcing steel was particularly difficult. On the year, the associated indicator was up almost 20%, hand-in-hand with the long running trend of dearer material prices and the more recent implementation of tariffs.
