Saturday, December 08, 2007

US manufacturing data


US manufacturing expands amid signs of weak employment
The New York Times

Manufacturing in the US expanded last month as new orders and production improved, but weakness in employment suggested that industrial jobs may not be as plentiful in coming months.

The trade group Institute for Supply Management said on Monday that its manufacturing index registered 50.8 last month, down from 50.9 in October. A reading above 50 indicates growth; below that spells contraction.

The manufacturing report showed a decline in the employment index to 47.8 from 52.0, indicating manufacturing jobs were contracting, the deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, Doug Porter, said. The institute said the index for new orders rose to 52.6 last month from 52.5 in October, while production expanded to 51.9 from 49.6 in October. The latest report also showed strong growth in export orders, which registered a 58.5 reading last month, up from 57.0 in October. The price index, meanwhile, advanced to 67.5 from 63.0 the month before.
The Wall Street Journal

Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui expressed concern on Monday that a downturn in the US economy could slow global growth, suggesting that Japan's central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates any time soon.

"The US economy is widely expected to slow in the fourth quarter this year and the first quarter of 2008 on the back of a continued adjustment in the housing market," Fukui said after meeting with business leaders in Nagoya, central Japan. But he added, "Even if the US economy slows, it will not affect our monetary policy."

Fukui said the Bank of Japan needs to watch whether the US sub-prime-mortgage crisis puts a serious dent in private consumption, one of the main engines of US economic growth. "US Christmas sales results are one key factor to gauge how strongly the sub-prime issue has affected private consumption," he said.



Find thousands of Bilingual jobs at LatPro.com.

Labels: , ,