An incredible insight into the powerful and strong gains for U.S. manufacturing has been released by The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers. As reported by the Associated Press, the managers “said Monday that its manufacturing index rose by 3.9 percentage points to a reading of 59.3% last month, up from 55.4% in September.”
The report claims October gains are “the highest level in two years” even with the coronavirus impeding the country. “It was the highest level for this closely watched barometer of manufacturing health since September 2018. Any reading above 50 signals that manufacturing is expanding” writes the AP. The numbers are of particular importance because the gauge fell into recession numbers from March through May of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the country shutdowns.
October’s gains are reflected in “key areas such as employment and inventories” and of the 18 industries covered in the report, “15 reported expansion in October with strong growth in fabricated metals, food and beverages, chemicals and computers and electronics” reported the AP. Chair of the ISM manufacturing survey committee credited the strong demand coming “out of the spring lockups in such areas as home construction and auto sales.”
Many economists and fiscal conservatives are concerned about the country being forced back into lockups to thwart the spread of COVID. “Manufacturing rebounded strongly with fewer restrictions on economic activity and stimulus efforts but the path forward will be more difficult as the economy continues to cope with the pandemic,” said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial.
The “new orders component of the index was also strong, rising to the highest level since 2004.” Despite such positivity, economists fear the pandemic’s continuous destruction. “The outlook is less positive given renewed virus outbreaks that will disrupt activity and weight on-demand,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. This is exactly why it is pertinent not to have liberals and Joe Biden in office legislating mandates that squash the economy. Democrats want citizens dependent on them; a crushed economy will do just that.
