Manufacturing in U.S. Expands at Slowest Pace in a Year
by Bloomberg News
10:00 AM EST March 2, 2015
(Bloomberg) -- Manufacturing expanded in February at the weakest pace in a year, limited by weaker growth abroad and a work slowdown at West Coast ports.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index dropped to 52.9, the lowest since January 2014, from 53.5 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s report showed Monday. Readings above 50 indicate growth and the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 53.
Cutbacks in demand from overseas customers and domestic energy producers led to the weakest growth in new orders since May 2013, prompting U.S. factories to slow the rate of hiring. At the same time, manufacturing is being underpinned by sustained spending from American consumers who are enjoying low prices at the gas pump.
“Manufacturing growth has slowed, but it’s still expansionary,” said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, whose forecast matched the median. “It’s comfortably above 50 but down from where it was a few months ago. We didn’t think we would sustain that pace, particularly with the slowing in global growth, but manufacturing is still expanding and adding to output.”
Purchasing managers from transportation equipment makers to food manufacturers said the work stoppage at West Coast ports was affecting supply chains and increasing costs, the ISM survey showed. The dispute over a dockworkers’ contract has since been resolved and the nation’s two busiest seaports -- Los Angeles and Long Beach -- are working through their biggest backlog of ships in a decade.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-02/manufacturing-in-u-s-grew-in-february-at-slowest-pace-in-a-year
