US manufacturing expands in July – ISM

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US manufacturing activity expanded again in July, with the overall economy growing for the third straight month, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) said on Monday.

“In July, manufacturing continued its recovery after the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Tim Fiore, chair of the ISM. “Panel sentiment was generally optimistic (two positive comments for every one cautious comment), continuing a trend from June.”

The ISM’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) had a reading of 54.2%, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous month. PMI readings above 50.0% indicate growth.

	New Orders	Production	Prices
July Index (%)	61.5	62.1	53.2
June Index (%)	56.4	57.3	51.3
Change (% pts)	+5.1	+4.8	+1.9
Direction	Growing	Growing	Increasing
Rate of Change	Faster	Faster	Faster
Trend (months)	2	2	2

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 13 reported growth, including plastics and rubber products, as well as chemical products.

“Orders starting to pick up. [An] increase of about 35% to 40%,” said a respondent in the chemical products industry.

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