US Manufacturing Falls To Second Lowest Level Since The Crisis

U.S. manufacturing grew at the slowest pace since the economy emerged from the financial crisis in 2009 this July, new data out of MarkitEconomics shows. The headline manufacturing index declined 80 basis points during the month to 51.8. Economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast a narrower fall to 52.0. New orders and output both expanded in July, but did so at lower rates that recorded at the start of the summer. Read more >>

Factory Orders Post Biggest Decline in Three Years

CNBC reports new orders for U.S. factory goods in March recorded their biggest decline in three years as demand for transportation equipment and a range of other goods slumped, government data showed on Wednesday.

The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods dropped 1.5 percent after a revised 1.1 percent rise in February. Economists had forecast orders falling 1.6 percent after a previously reported 1.3 percent increase in February. 

Zero Hedge claims the prior February increase of 1.3% was revised lower to 1.1%, netting out as a negative two month change. "Where this number was troubling is that this 2.6% swing brought the index to its biggest decline since March 2009 when the pumping of trillions started"

US Needs To Generate 261,200 Jobs Per Month To Return To Pre-Depression Employment

Every few months we rerun an analysis of how many jobs the US economy has to generate to return to the unemployment rate as of December 2007 when the Great Financial Crisis started, by the end of Obama's potential second term in November 2016.

This calculation takes into account the historical change in Payroll and includes the 90,000/month natural growth to the labor force, and extrapolates into the future. And every time we rerun this calculation, the number of jobs that has to be created to get back to baseline increases: First it was 245,500 in April, then 250,000 in June, then 254,000 in July. As of today, following the just announced "beat" of meager NFP expectations, this number has has just risen to an all time high 261,200. More...

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...