The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in January for the first time in 12 months, preceded by 26 straight months of contraction. The ISM Manufacturing PMI® registered 52.6%, increasing by 4.7 percentage points (pp) from 47.9% recorded in December. (A manufacturing PMI® above 50%, over a period of time, generally indicates an expansion of the overall economy.)
The overall economy continued in expansion for the 15th month.
The Employment Index registered 48.1% in January, 3.3 pp higher than December’s seasonally adjusted reading of 44.8%. Prices Index registered 59% in January, an increase of 0.5 pp over its December reading (58.5%) and indicating raw materials prices increased for the 16th straight month. New Orders Index expanded in January with a reading of 57.1% , an increase of 9.7 pp compared to December’s seasonally adjusted figure of 47.4% and the highest since it registered 59.7% in February 2022.
New Export Orders Index expanded in January, registering 50.2%, up 3.4 pp from December’s reading of 46.8%. “Trade frictions still are a major concern: For every positive comment, there were 1.2 negative comments,” said Susan Spence, MBA, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management. Of the 18 manufacturing industries, four reported growths in new export orders in January.
Imports Index was unchanged (50%) in January after a nine-month period of contraction; the figure is an increase of 5.4 pp compared to the reading of 44.6% reported in December. Seven industries reported higher imports in January.
The Inventories Index registered 47.6% in January, up 1.9 pp compared to the seasonally adjusted reading of 45.7% in December. “None of the six big industries expanded inventories in January,” says Spence.
Read the ISM release.
