ISM: US manufacturing activity falls in March
Manufacturing activity declined in the United States in March, although less than expected, according to a release from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Wednesday. The Purchasing Managers Index stood at 49.1%, down from 50.1% in February.
Meanwhile, the New Orders Index saw the sharpest monthly decline of 7.6 percentage points to arrive at 49.8%. At the same time, the Production Index fell 2.6 percentage points 47.7%. The Backlog of Orders Index was 45.9% for March according to the report, a decrease of 4.4 percentage points from February.
The Employment Index fell 3.1 percentage point, arriving at 43.8%. ““Comments from the panel were negative regarding the near-term outlook, with sentiment clearly impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and energy market volatility,” the release from the institute noted.
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