The final revisions to the February Markit manufacturing PMI
- Prelim was 58.5
- Prior was 59.2
- The rate of input price inflation accelerated to the sharpest since April 2011
- Output prices rise at highest since July 2008
- Employment best since Sept 2014
- Full report
The ISM manufacturing survey is due out at the top of the hour. The consensus is a dip to 58.6 from 58.7.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said:
"Another month of strong production growth suggests that the US manufacturing sector is close to fully recovering the output lost to the pandemic last year, and a renewed surge in optimism suggests the recovery has much further to run. Business expectations about the year ahead jumped to a level only exceeded once over the past six years, buoyed by a cocktail of stimulus and post-COVID recovery hopes as life continues to return to normal amid vaccine roll outs.
"Particularly encouraging is a marked improvement in demand for machinery and equipment, hinting strongly at strengthening business investment spending. However, new orders for consumer goods showed the strongest back-to back monthly gains since the pandemic began, suggesting higher household spending is also feeding through to higher production.
"A concern is that shortages of raw materials have become a growing problem, with record supply chain delays reported in February, contributing to the steepest rise in material costs seen over the past decade. Prices charged for a wide variety of goods coming out of factories are consequently rising, which will likely feed through to higher consumer inflation."
The commentary is very positive and so is the report. Manufacturing is booming.
