The Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported a 2.5 percent jump in manufacturing growth in June.
The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee-area PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) was 60.2 in June, up from 57.7 in May. Any PMI over 50 indicates growth as a measure of new orders, production, employment, supplier deliveries and inventories in the manufacturing industry.
Of the individual categories the ISM-Milwaukee measures, employment is growing fastest, up 10.8 percent over May. The diffusion index shows both blue collar and white collar jobs are growing faster than in May.
Production is up 7.9 percent, while new orders are up just 0.6 percent. Supplier deliveries declined by 6.2 percent, while inventories and prices also dropped sharply.
Imports are up 11.5 percent and the backlog of orders grew 5.8 percent. Commodity prices are about the same as in May.
Respondents also offered comments about June activity, including:
“Slowing demand in (North America) combined with significant slowdowns in China and India have come with little notice, creating backups in the extended supply chains. These are short-term issues right now.”
“This month has seen relatively stable commodity prices. While there has been a relatively slow but steady decline in oil prices, products where (oil) is a cost driver have not declined. For example, don’t expect airlines to reduce airfare costs, simply because the cost of jet fuel is lower.”
“Current challenge is capacity. We are adding additional equipment, but not fast enough.”
