The Institute for Supply Management reported on Monday that its manufacturing PMI dropped in March to the lowest reading since May 2020. All subcomponents of the PMI fell below the 50 threshold for the first time since 2009. Orders for transportation equipment fell 2.8% after diving 14.0% in January. Motor vehicle orders rose 0.8%, but were outpaced by a 6.6% plunge in bookings for civilian aircraft. Orders for machinery dropped 0.6%, while bookings for computers and electronic products edged up 0.1%. Orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components increased 0.7%.
Shipments of manufactured goods fell 0.5% after rising 0.3%
in January. The inventory of manufactured goods at factories
slipped 0.1% for a second straight month. Unfilled orders at
factories dipped 0.1% after being unchanged in the prior month.
The Commerce Department also reported that orders for
non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft, which are seen as
a measure of business spending plans on equipment, fell 0.1% in
February instead of gaining 0.2% as reported last month.
Shipments of these so-called core capital goods, which are
used to calculate business equipment spending in the gross
domestic product report, slipped 0.1% instead of being
unchanged as previously reported. Business spending on equipment
contracted in the fourth quarter.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
