The overall economy failed to grow for the seventh straight month after 83 months of expansion, while the manufacturing sector contracted for the 15th month in a row, the Institute for Supply Management reported Friday.
According to the ISM’s monthly report on business, the index rose to 40.1 in April from 36.3 in March. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted the index would rise to 38.0.
“The decline in the manufacturing sector continues to moderate,” said Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing business survey committee. “After six consecutive months below the 40% mark, the PMI, driven by the new orders index at 47.2%, shows a significant improvement. While this is a big step forward, there is still a large gap that must be closed before manufacturing begins to grow once again.
“The customers’ inventories index indicates that channels are paring inventories to acceptable levels after reporting inventories as 'too high’ for eight consecutive months. The prices manufacturers pay for their goods and services continue to decline; however, copper prices have bottomed and are now starting to rise. This is definitely a good start for the second quarter.”
The closely watched prices paid index rose to 32.0 from 31.0. The employment index was at 34.4, up from 28.1.
