March Markit Manufacturing: Activity Rebounds

The March US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index conducted by Markit came in at 58.8, up 1.5 from the final February figure.

Here is an excerpt from IHS Markit in their latest press release:

Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said:

“US manufacturing growth accelerated in March as strong demand and improving prospects countered the headwinds of soaring cost pressures and the RussiaUkraine war. “Order book growth has picked up as customers look to the further reopening of the domestic and global economies amid signs that the disruptions from the pandemic continue to fade. “While companies continued to report widespread production constraints due to supply chain bottlenecks, the incidence of such delays is now lower than at any time since January 2021. Jobs growth has also improved as fewer companies reported labor shortages. “Similarly, although price pressures remain elevated, with surging energy costs pushing firms’ costs higher at an increased rate in March, rates of inflation of both input costs and average selling prices have fallen from the record highs seen late last year to hint that consumer price inflation could likewise soon peak. “It was especially encouraging to see business optimism about the year ahead improve further in March, despite the new uncertainties, sanctions and geopolitical risks caused by the Ukraine invasion, with optimism among producers now the brightest since late-2020.” [Press Release]

Here is a snapshot of the series since mid-2012.

Here is an overlay with the equivalent PMI survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management (see our full article on this series here).

The next chart uses a three-month moving average of the two rather volatile series to facilitate our understanding of the current trend.