The US manufacturing sector is growing at a slightly slower pace: a score of 52.6 against 53.2 points expected. This is not a huge miss and the sector is small in comparison to services. Nevertheless, it joins the weak data seen last week from durable goods orders and GDP. For the NFP, the bad sign comes from the employment component: 49.4 against 50.4 last time. The drop puts hiring in contraction territory, and this could be worrying.
The new orders component slides gently from 57 to 56.9 points. Prices paid fell from 60.5 to 55.
The US dollar is marginally weaker in the immediate aftermath.
In a separate report, construction spending also disappointed with a drop of 0.6% against an expected rise of 0.5%, albeit the revision was positive.
The ISM Manufacturing PMI was expected to stand at 53 points in July, similar to 53.2 seen in June. Numbers above 50 represent expansion while figures under the threshold reflect contraction. This is the first significant hint towards Friday’s Non-Farm Payrolls report.
Ahead of the release, the greenback enjoyed a small recovery: EUR/USD traded around 1.1160, GBP/USD at 1.32 and USD/JPY around 102.40.
Earlier, Markit’s final manufacturing PMI was confirmed at 52.9 – no surprises there.
Last week, the first release of US GDP for Q2 2016 was a bitter disappointment. The economy grew by only 1.2% annualized, less than half the early expectations and reflecting a third consecutive quarter of very poor growth.
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