U.S. and global manufacturing last month showed signs of recovery after a sluggish January, according to a report today from the Institute for Supply Management.
The global manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose in February to a four-month peak of 53.7 points from January’s year-and-a-half low of 53.4. It was the index’s 46th straight month above the neutral level of 50.0.
February’s growth was led by increases in production, new orders and employment plus growth of international trade. The “Eurozone” manufacturing sector remained the strongest, but the U.S. PMI Output Index “recovered strongly to … a five-month high of 54.1,” the ISM said.
The ISM’s U.S. manufacturing index rose to 52.3 from the January reading of 49.3 that Bloomberg News noted was the lowest since April 2003. The rise appeared to confirm Federal Reserve chief Ben S. Bernanke’s comments yesterday that the nation’s economy will strengthen in mid to late 2007.
“The trend in manufacturing, as well as the overall economy, is for slow but continuing growth,” Norbert J. Ore, chair of the ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said in the U.S. report.
Additional information is available at www.ism.ws.
