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Manufacturing Index Records 26th Month Above 50, But New Orders Drop
The Inland Empire’s manufacturing sector continued expanding last month, though a report by the Institute of Applied Research shows new orders dropped. This month’s Inland Empire Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) registered 53.9, a slight decrease from the previous month’s 55.3.
The index has remained above the baseline 50% mark for the last 26 months, indicating sustained growth for both the manufacturing sector and the overall economy.
The report’s authors, Dr. Barbara Sirotnik and Lori Aldana, wrote, “This month saw a sharp decline in the New Order Index, after 13 months of growth. The index dropped to 46.4 this month from last month’s 58.3. That is not necessarily a cause for alarm since it takes three months of data to establish a new trend (in this case, a trend of declining new orders). The Production Index also dropped this month (from 58.3 to 55.4), meaning that production is still growing (although at a slower pace than last month).”
Prices of raw materials are continuing to rise, and deliveries continued to slow. “But the big news is that the Employment Index increased sharply to 53.6 from last month’s 46.7, which had been the first month below 50 in two years. It appears that last month’s figure may have been an anomaly,” say Sirotnik and Aldana.
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- ◦Economy
