KEY POINTS:
- The manufacturing sector rebounded in January, with the purchasing managers index (PMI) rising 3.1 percentage points in January to 50.9 percent. This indicates an expanding manufacturing sector after several months of contraction.
- Six of the PMI’s 10 subindexes recorded an expansion in January. Among these, the most pronounced were production (up 6 percentage points), expanding new orders (up 4.4 percentage points) and new export orders (up 6 percentage points) from December levels.
ECONOMIST CORNER:
The PMI provides a reliable indicator of the health of the manufacturing sector and is released monthly by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Comprising the index are several subindexes that track the direction of individual components within the manufacturing sector. Six out of 10 subindexes were greater expanding in January, representing a marked improvement from December when two of the 10 subindexes were expanding. This renewed confidence in the manufacturing sector can be attributed, in part, to the first phase of the trade deal with China.