The Institute for Supply Management released their May report this morning.
Just about every category improved. The overall reading of 42.8, while technically contraction, has in the past generally coincided with actual expansion of the manufacturing sector.*
But for those who are tired of "second derivative", "getting-worse-but-at-a-slower-pace" data, there is one item that stands out: Manufacturers' New Orders, at 51.1, *GREW*.
Increasing new orders means a need to have current workers work longer hours, or to hire new workers.
Just one data point, of course. But here is a "green shoot" that is in absolute, not just relative, *growth* territory.
*As a result of this, the official ISM report concludes that the Economy as a Whole, also actually *GREW* in May.
Here's the dastardly graph:
don't ya know
Despite this good news and "green shoot", according to Robert Reich and many others, manufacturing is a gone game, all jobs require a college degree and we should get over it.
Like I said yesterday, very interesting dynamics
Is this the other side of the coin? Consumption down and personal savings up.
We are still "deleveraging" and this will have a big impact on whether we have a recovery or the type of recovery.
One way to avoid this painful deleveraging would be to truly increase household incomes - not just through artificial means of tax cuts and stimulus checks.
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