My Investing Muse

  Institute of Supply Management released the Manufacturing PMI last week. From the article, it was quoted: Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in September for the 11th consecutive month following a 28-month period of growth, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM ® Report On Business ® . Of the six biggest manufacturing industries, two — Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; and Petroleum & Coal Products — registered growth in September. The five manufacturing industries that reported growth in September are: Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Textile Mills; Primary Metals; and Petroleum & Coal Products. The 11 industries reporting contraction in September — in the following order — are: Printing & Related Support Activities; Furniture & Related Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Paper Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Wood Products; Computer & Electronic Products;...

Supply Chain is well said to be the blood of the economy.  To bring goods and services to the customers, this has to go through some supply chain services. For this to be appreciated, let us look at the import, export and balance of trade (export less import) for the USA. For June 2023, exports total $247.483B For June 2023, total import is $312.98B thus, the balance of trade for the month ending June 2023 stands at -$65.497B (negative). This implies that the value of imports is more than the value of exports. For Aug 2023, the PMI are 51.00, 47.00 and 50.40 for services, manufacturing and composite respectively. Composite PMI refers to the combination of both services and manufacturing PMI. This implies that the manufacturing sector is contracting whereas the services sector expands. From the LMI index and its detailed explanation, there is no "urgency" to hire for the coming peak season. This could imply either there are sufficient resources, a lack of demand or both . The ...