Surveys Show Manufacturing Slowing Worldwide

Factory activity worldwide stalled last month as new orders tumbled, heightening fears that the global economy might be heading for another recession and driving stock markets lower.

In the euro area, the purchasing managers’ indexes showed that manufacturing contracted for the first time in almost two years in August, echoing earlier data from South Korea and Taiwan, where new export orders fell sharply.

Britain’s manufacturing sector shrank at its fastest pace in more than two years, hurt by a sharp decline in demand for exports.

The pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector slowed to a crawl but fared better than economists had forecast.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity edged down to 50.6 from 50.9 the month before. The reading topped expectations of 48.5, which would have signaled a contraction, according to a Reuters poll of economists. More...