Manufacturing Slowdown?

The Lehmann Letter (SM)

  

Yesterday’s report from the Institute of Supply Management that its June Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dipped below 50% is cause for concern:

http://www.ism.ws/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm?navItemNumber=12942

Any reading below 50% is a sign of manufacturing contraction, and June’s 49.7% interrupts an expansionary trend. Let’s hope it was a fluke.

Purchasing Managers’ Index

(Click on chart to enlarge)

(Recessions shaded)

But there have been too many signs of softness to remain complacent.

We’ll see.

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© 2012 Michael B. Lehmann