Markit PMI Sinks to Worst Reading of the Year

24/7 Wall St.
Updated

Right before 9:00 a.m. EST on Friday we saw that the Markit Purchasing Managers Index for October fell to 51.8 from 52.8 in September. The good news is that the number was better than the flash PMI reading of 51.1. The bad news is that this was still the worst official reading of 2013.

Yesterday's Chicago PMI was a better reading, and this sets up a mixed tone for manufacturing data from the ISM for October at 10:00 a.m. EST on Friday. Bloomberg has a consensus of 55.0 for the broader and more followed ISM manufacturing reading, which would be down from the 56.2 reading in September.

Basic comments from Markit are as follows:

  • PMI signals only modest improvement in business conditions

  • Output growth joint-weakest for over four years

  • New orders increase at slowest pace since April

  • Rate of job creation quickens


Filed under: Economy

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