“The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit final U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) posted 52.4 in March, down from 53.0 in February, and broadly in line with the ‘flash’ figure of 52.5,” the IHS Markit said in its US Manufacturing PMI report.
Key takeaways from the press release
- A key factor behind the lower headline figure was a slower rise in output.
- The rate of expansion eased to a marginal pace that was the weakest since June 2016 and below the series trend.
- Input price inflation softened further to the slowest since August 2017.
- Business confidence among manufacturers remained below the series trend but picked up from February.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said:
“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.”
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