March Markit Manufacturing Dips
The March US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index conducted by Markit came in at 52.4, down 0.6 from the 53.0 final February 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:
"A futher deterioraton in the manufacturing PMI suggests the factory sector is acting as an increasing drag on the US economy. The March survey is consistent with production falling at a quarterly rate of 0.6% according to historical comparisons with official data." [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, note that ).
The next chart uses a three-month moving average of the two rather volatile series to facilitate our understanding of the current trend.