September ISM = 59.8

The new ISM report always comes out at 10 am on the first business day of the month. Today’s report came in at 59.8 which is a good number. It’s down from 61.3 for August, but that was the best report in 14 years.

The slowdown came as new orders fell to 61.8 from 65.1 in August. Supplier deliveries and inventories also decreased last month, ISM said.

In another report, the Commerce Department said that construction spending rose 0.1% in August. The figure for July was bumped up to 0.2%. In the last year, construction spending is up 6.5%.

Spending on public construction projects jumped 2.0 percent in August to the highest level since July 2009. That followed a 1.7 percent increase in July. Spending on federal government construction projects soared 5.9 percent to a 10-month high after increasing 2.3 percent in July.

State and local government construction outlays accelerated 1.7 percent in August to the highest level since March 2009. That followed a 1.6 percent rise in July.

The economy continues to expand. Pricing pressures are growing but they’re not quite a problem.

Posted by on October 1st, 2018 at 10:33 am


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