The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI Index was up 1.2 points to 61.1 indicating that manufacturing activity nationwide grew in September despite significant challenges (a reading above 50.0 is consistent with expansion). According to the report, “companies and suppliers continue to deal with an unprecedented number of hurdles to meet increasing demand. All segments of the manufacturing economy are impacted by record-long raw materials lead times, continued shortages of critical materials, rising commodity prices and difficulties in transporting products.” That is in addition to on-going COVID disruptions including “worker absenteeism, short-term shutdowns due to parts shortages, difficulties in filling open positions and overseas supply chain problems.” See the full report here.
