U.S. manufacturing activity registered a decline in March, with new orders and factory production falling for the month, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).
“The Manufacturing PMI registered 49 percent in March, 1.3 percentage points lower compared to the 50.3 percent recorded in February,” ISM said in an April 1 statement.
The contraction in manufacturing occurred after an expansion in January and February, which was the first such growth following 26 straight months of declines, according to Timothy R. Fiore, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.
Signs of weakening demand included the index of new orders moving further into contraction and the index of backlog of orders declining at a faster rate. Factory output or production shifted from growth to contraction….