The closely-watched PMI measure from the Institute for Supply Management fell in November to 48.1, a decline of 0.2 from October, marking the fourth month in a row with each successive month lower than the last (a reading above 50.0 indicates growth). This was reportedly below market expectations of ~49.4 and the Dow was down over 200 points within 35 minutes of the announcement.
This is the PMI’s worst performance in almost four years when the December 2015 PMI was 48.0 and the February 2016 PMI marked five consecutive months of contraction before returning to growth in March 2016. All the PMI sub-indices also contracted with the exception of Supplier Deliveries at 52.0, up +2.5, while Backlog of Orders was lowest at 43.0, a decrease of -1.1 from October.
“Global trade remains the most significant cross-industry issue. Among the six big industry sectors, Food, Beverage & Tobacco remains the strongest, while Fabricated Metal Products is the weakest,” according to Timothy R. Fiore, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management. See the full report here.
