Employment growth has propelled US manufacturing to register its third consecutive month of accelerated growth in April, an industry report showed on Tuesday.
According to the article on Reuters, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose to 54.9 in April, which is a 1.2 increase when compared to the readings in March — still above the 50 mark which separates growth from contraction.
The growth of the index of national factory activity that rose to 54.9 surprised the analysts, who predicted a reading of 54.3. Although the factory activity index rose significantly and beyond expectations, it still remains below November’s recent peak of 57, which was the highest since April 2011.
The manufacturing growth was accompanied by a rebound in the employment sub-index, which unexpectedly grew to 54.7 from March’s 51.1 — the lowest reading since June 2013.
The forward-looking new orders index remained at 55, whereas the production sub-index contracted slightly in April to 55.7 from the previous reading of 55.9.
