Recent Updates
- Australia: Sydney and Melbourne Labor Force Summary (Jan)
- Japan: Input Output Prices (Jan)
- US: New Residential Sales, Final Building Permits (Jan)
- Belgium: Employment Indexes (Q4)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Decline as Interest Rates Continue to Increase
The MBA Mortgage Loan Applications Index declined 11.4%...
French Sectors Show Minor Recovery from Pre-Covid19 Levels
French industry climate improved in February...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Increases in February
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased 2.7% (-31.1% y/y) to 91.3 during February...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Rise Markedly
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index increased 1.1% m/m in December...
U.S. Energy Prices Surge as Texas Freeze Limits Supply
The price of regular gasoline strengthened to $2.63 per gallon (6.8% y/y) in the week ended February 22...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 1, 2005
The Institute of Supply Management reported that the Composite Index of activity in the manufacturing sector remained about unchanged in March at 55.2 versus 55.3 in February. Consensus expectations had been for 55.0.
During the last twenty years there has been a 69% correlation between the level of the Composite Index and the three month growth in factory sector industrial production.
Only the new orders (57.1) and inventories (54.1) components rose. The production index (56.5) continued its slide from the January '04 peak of 69.0 and the employment index (53.3) reversed all of the prior two months' gains. During the last twenty years there has been a 69% correlation between the level of the ISM Employment Index and the three month growth in factory sector employment.
The vendor deliveries index (52.5) fell sharply to the lowest level since 2003 and the index of export orders (55.4) also fell hard to the lowest in six months.
The prices paid index recovered more than all of the prior two months' decline but remained off the April '04 high of 88.0.
ISM Manufacturing Survey | March | Feb | March '04 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Composite Index | 55.2 | 55.3 | 62.3 | 60.5 | 53.3 | 52.4 |
New Orders Index | 57.1 | 55.8 | 65.3 | 63.5 | 57.9 | 56.5 |
Prices Paid Index (NSA) | 73.0 | 65.5 | 86.0 | 79.8 | 59.6 | 57.6 |