“The U.S. manufacturing sector shrank again, but the uptick in the PMI indicates a slower rate of contraction,” according to the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) Report on Business for August 2023. “The month-over-month increase is a sign of improvement,” said ISM as the PMI came in at 47.6 an improvement of 1.2 points from July (a reading below 50.0 is consistent with contraction). See the full report here.