U.S. manufacturing activity accelerates

ISM Manufacturing Report on Business???????(R)???????+???????(R)??????oe???? PMI History. Back in December 2008 PMI hit its lowest point in 28 years at 32.9. In May 1980 PMI was at its lowest point ever at 29.4 (data started in 1948), followed by 30.3 the next month. In 2009 PMI increased more than 20 points, with a steady increase nearly every month.

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Construction spending dropped 0.6 percent in November, a bigger decline than economists expected. The growth in manufacturing accelerated in the final month of 2009, a sign that recovery of the long-beleaguered sector remains on track.

Investors reacted favorably to speeches by two top Federal Reserve officials that they interpreted to mean that the central bank will keep interest rates low, well into the future.

The Institute for Supply Management said that its index of manufacturing activity was 55.9 in December, up from 53.6 in November. Numbers above 50 indicate that the sector is expanding, as has been the case for five straight months.

Manufacturers are cranking up production to rebuild business inventories that firms let shrink during the depths of the recession, and the report included a particularly strong read on new orders, which bodes well for the future. As manufacturing picks up steam this will be an opportune time to purchase more supplies and equipment for your landscape business.

A Commerce Department report said construction spending declined 0.6 percent in November, as construction of housing and commercial buildings declined. The manufacturing survey is the latest evidence that the nation’s industrial sector is picking up steam. While the numbers are too small to suggest that the economy will snap back to health, it is promising news.

Manufacturing companies cut 41,000 jobs in November, according to the Labor Department, but that was far lower than the 171,000 jobs per month slashed in the first half of the year. – Institute for Supply Management