Slowing factory orders and higher prices resulted in U.S. manufacturing activity contracting for the ninth consecutive month in November.
The Institute for Supply Management said on Dec. 1 that the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index—a monthly survey of the sector’s prevailing economic conditions—fell to 48.2 in November from 48.7 the previous month.
A reading below 50 suggests the sector is contracting.
But while last month’s number held above 42.3, a threshold long associated with overall economic expansion, Susan Spence, head of the organization’s Business Survey Committee, says most of the sector’s gross domestic product weakened.
“Looking at the manufacturing economy, 58% of the sector’s GDP contracted in November, matching the previous month’s figure, and the percentage of GDP in strong contraction decreased slightly, at 39% compared to 41% in October,” Spence said in the report….