The National Association of Purchasing Management’s PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) for Buffalo released on March 19th, dropped 1.9 points in February to 49.4, indicating stagnant manufacturing activity (this is a diffusion index with values >50 indicating expansion while values <50 indicate contraction). Coming on the heels of this month’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey, which signaled little to no growth, it paints a picture of flat manufacturing activity in WNY and in NYS as a whole. Professor Jay Walker who assembles the PMI in Buffalo wrote, “I don’t feel as if these results signal a large shift toward decreasing activity…” See the full report here.