(ISM) The Manufacturing PMI in the US was registered at 56.1 in May, representing a gain of 0.7 percentage points from 55.4 in April.
The May PMI reflected growth in the US economy for the 24th straight month after contracting in April and May 2020. The PMI was still the lowest since September 2020.
Demand showed improvement, with the New Orders Index rising by 1.6 percentage points from April to 55.1 in May. The New Export Orders Index was up by 0.2 percentage points to 52.9, while the Imports Index fell by 2.7 percentage points to 48.7.
The production Index climbed by 0.6 percentage points to 54.2, a gain of 0.5 percentage points. The Backlog of Orders Index was at 58.7, an increase of 2.7 percentage points.
ISM chair Timothy Fiore commented on the PMI, saying that the manufacturing sector in the US is in a demand-driven and supply-chain constrained environment. He pointed out that sentiment remained robustly optimistic regarding demand.
Manufacturing still faced lingering labor issues. A measure of factory employment plunged into the contraction zone in May, the first time since November 2020.
Supply chain issues were also noted, with the average lead times for capital expenditures rising to 178 days, the highest on record.
SPY is down -0.64%, DXY is up +0.67%.
