ISM Manufacturing Index Up 2.3 Points to 60.8 – Highest Level Since 2004

In January, the Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing Index rose 2.3 points to 60.8. This places the index at the highest level of the recovery thus far. After decelerating last summer, the index has been strengthening over the past six months. The manufacturing sector is continuing a robust recovery. Any index value over 50 indicates manufacturing sector activity expansion.

The production component rose 0.5 point to 63.5, while the employment component gained 2.8 points to 61.7. Looking forward, the new orders component rose 5.8 points to 67.8 and the backlogged orders index rose 11.0 points to 58.0. These two factors suggest that manufacturing activity will continue to expand at a brisk pace in coming months.

> 50 = expansion	Jan	Dec	Nov	Oct	Sep	Aug
Activity Index	60.8	58.5	58.2	56.9	55.3	55.2
Production	63.5	63.0	58.2	61.4	58.1	57.2
Employment	61.7	58.9	59.0	57.9	56.9	58.2
New Orders	67.8	62.0	59.6	59.9	51.6	53.7
Export Orders	62.0	54.5	57.0	60.5	54.5	55.5
Backlogged Orders	58.0	47.0	46.0	46.0	46.5	51.5
Inventories	52.4	51.8	56.1	53.2	56.0	50.9