US manufacturers continue to lead the global trend for PMI growth as ISM® reported a PMI of 56 percent for August. While the Euro Area figure slipped from 57.8 to 57.1, Germany and Italy both saw improvement after entering growth territory the previous month.
The Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) reported a July PMI of 54.2 percent for US manufacturers. That was up 1.6 percent from the June figure and was the highest point since March 2019.
The Institute for Supply Management® reported a US PMI of 52.6 percent for June which represents the first month back to growth territory since the COVID-19 shutdowns. In fact, the figure eclipsed a strong pre-COVID January number of 50.9 and is the highest month for US manufacturing since April of 2019. The promising June performance rolled out to other countries as well, with China continuing to progress as the Caixin Manufacturing index reported a 51.2 number. The Euro Zone, Germany and Italy also showed improvement, but all remained in contraction territory under the 50 percent mark.
While the Institute for Supply Management® reported a slight uptick to a 43.1 percent PMI for US manufacturers in May, Italy saw a strong rebound from an all-time low of 31.1 in April to 45.4 in May, which pushed the country above their six-month PMI moving average. In addition, China’s manufacturing index bumped up to growth territory with a Caixin Manufacturing index of 50.7 percent in May after showing a slight dip in April.
The Institute for Supply Management® reported a massive PMI index drop to 41.5 percent for April for US manufacturers. That follows 49.1 percent from March and certainly reflects the broad shutdown across the US.
Six month moving average shown. Source date: ISM®.
The COVID-19 pandemic looks to have snuffed out an expansion that wanted to kick off at the start of the year as the Institute for Supply Management® reported a PMI of 49.1 percent for March. Based on the overall economy, the drop from 50.1 percent in February seems relatively modest. Comments from the ISM® report and panel reflect intense concerns about the future outlook as the world economy is heading into the unknown.
