US manufacturing sector in May contracts for 7th month

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US manufacturing sector in May contracted for the seventh consecutive month, according to a report released Thursday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

The ISM manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 46.9% last month -- 0.2 percentage points lower than the 47.1% recorded in April.

While a reading above 50 indicates growth, below that shows contraction.

The market expectation for the index, based on replies from purchasing and supply executives in more than 400 industrial firms, was to come in at 47.0% in May.

"There is clearly more business uncertainty in May," said Timothy Fiore, the chair of ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, adding the figure indicates "a faster rate of contraction."

The new orders index failed to leave the contraction zone in May, recording a ninth consecutive month in that territory, by coming in at 42.6% -- 3.1 percentage points lower than 45.7% in April.

The production index managed to climb above the contraction territory with a reading of 51.1%, which was a 2.2-percentage point increase from April’s figure of 48.9%.