The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business increased to 65.57 in December from 59.62 in November, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Friday.
In terms of future outlook, half of respondents expect positive conditions in six months, up from 46.67% in November and 43.48% in October.
New orders received soared to 88.33 from 66.46, production grew to 72.65 from 57.94, employment decreased to 58.67 from 61.73, supplier deliveries decreased to 65.33 from 75.29, and backlog of orders grew to 73.08 from 60.00.
Inventory levels climbed to 42.86 from 36.67, customers’ inventories fell to 32.14 from 19.23, prices rose to 82.14 from 73.33, exports slid to 62.50 from 59.09, and imports gained to 68.75 from 66.67.
The blue collar diffusion index rose to 58.7 from 58.3, while the white collar diffusion index fell to 51.3 from 58.3.
