Markit Manufacturing: "September PMI Rises To Five-Month High As Output Growth Strengthens"

The September US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index conducted by Markit came in at 51.1, down 0.8 from the 50.3 final August figure. Markit's Manufacturing PMI is a diffusion index: A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector; below 50 indicates contraction.

Here is an excerpt from Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit in their latest press release:

"News of the PMI hitting a five-month high brings a sigh of relief, but manufacturing is not out of the woods yet. The September improvement fails to prevent US goods producers from having endured their worst quarter for a decade. Given these PMI numbers, the manufacturing recession appears to have extended into its third quarter." [Press Release]

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

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

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

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