BLBG: ISM Index Of U.S. Manufacturing Decreased To 49.7 In June
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to 49.7 in June from 53.5 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s report showed today.
Readings less than 50 signal contraction, and the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a decline to 52. Estimates of the 70 economists ranged from 50.5 to 53.5. The gauge averaged 55.2 in 2011 and 57.3 in the previous year.
Manufacturing is weaker in the rest of the world. The industry in the euro-area contracted for an 11th straight month in June as Europe’s debt crisis sapped demand. A measure of the region’s factories held at 45.1, London-based Markit Economics said.
Euro-area unemployment reached the highest on record in May, other figures showed. The jobless rate in the 17-nation area rose to 11.1 percent, the highest since the data series began in 1995, from 11 percent a month earlier, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said.
A manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for China fell to 48.2 in June from 48.4 a month earlier, HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit said today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net
