Tuesday, January 6, 2026

US manufacturing weakens

 As always, if you average two (statistically) independent time series, the standard deviation of the average is less than either of its components.   This is why I like to look at an average of the ISM and the PMI surveys, which are the two earliest data released after the end of the previous month for the US economy.   That is the green line in the chart below.  In addition, to further reduce random fluctuations, I have extreme-adjusted both series.

The ISM manufacturing survey has been falling (more or less) since January, whereas the PMI has been rising.  Now both are declining, and the average has slipped back below the 50% recession line.

This is just manufacturing  (the services data are due in a couple of days).  But it points to ongoing weakness in the US economy.






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