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ISM manufacturing still contracting, but January improves on December

The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Index came in at 35.6 (anything under 50 means manufacturing is contracting), but that’s an improvement on the 32.8 notched in December. The index has been sub-50 for 12 months. One interesting tidbit from ISM’s release:

Commodities Up in Price

Corrugated Containers*; Electrical Components; Polypropylene*; and Steel* (2).

Commodities Down in Price

Aluminum (4); Aluminum Extrusions; Copper (6); Corrugated Containers*; Diesel Fuel (6); Gasoline (3); Natural Gas (6); Oil (2); Polyethylene (3); Polypropylene* (4); Scrap Metal (2); Stainless Steel (4); Stainless Steel Products (2); Steel* (5); and Steel — Cold Rolled.
Commodities in Short Supply

No commodities are reported in short supply.

(The asterisk is for stuff that’s going both up and down.)

One bit of borderline-positive news: inventories were not piling up in January.

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Tom Mangan posted at 7:12 am February 2nd, 2009 |

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