Manufacturing Growth Cools for Second Straight Month

Source: Institute for Supply Management

The manufacturing sector expanded for the 23rd straight month of growth in April, but growth decelerated for the second consecutive month. QQQ is down 1.23%, while SPY is down 0.31%.

• The manufacturing PMI stood at 55.4 in April, 1.7 percentage points lower than 57.1 in March.
• A slowdown was recorded in nearly all indicators, except for supplier deliveries which grew by 67.2, higher than the 65.4 in March.
• The fastest decline was seen in employment which fell by 5.4 percentage points to 50.9 from 56.3, followed by order backlogs by 4.0 percentage points to 56.0.
• ISM Chair Timothy Fiore said firms recorded higher quits in April versus previous months, with less reports of improvement in meeting employment targets.
• The sector was hit by instability in global energy markets, but respondents remained optimistic about demand moving forward.