U.S. factories expand for 14th straight month
August 1, 2014
By Paul Wiseman The Associated Press
U.S. manufacturing expanded for the 14th straight month in July — a good sign for the overall economy.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, reported Friday that its manufacturing index rose to 57.1, its highest level since April 2011 and up from 55.3 in June.
Anything above 50 signals that manufacturing is growing.
Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note that the index was consistent with overall economic growth of 3.5 per cent.
The U.S. economy already has been showing renewed strength. Economic growth clocked in an impressive four per cent annual pace from April through June after getting off to a bad start the first three months of the year. And the Labor Department said Friday that employers added more than 200,000 jobs in July for the sixth straight month. Factories created 28,000 jobs in July — the most since November. Over the past year, manufacturers have added 178,000 jobs — the best 12-month stretch of hiring since November 2012.
Dales wrote that the ISM report “suggests that manufacturing payrolls may soon start to rise by close to 50,000 a month rather than July’s 28,000.”
American factories have been busy. The Commerce Department reported last week that orders for durable goods rose 0.7 per cent in June, and a category seen as a proxy for business investment plans rose a healthy 1.4 per cent.
The ISM reported that new orders, production and employment at factories rose. Exports declined last month. Seventeen of 18 industries covered by the survey showed growth last month. Only wood products contracted.
