CNN/Money 
graphic
News > Economy
graphic
ISM index falls
Closely watched measure of factory-sector business sentiment posts surprising drop in September.
October 1, 2003: 10:20 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in September, the nation's purchasing managers said Wednesday, missing Wall Street forecasts.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of manufacturing activity fell to 53.7 from 54.7 in August. Any number above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. Economists, on average, expected the ISM index to rise to 55, according to Briefing.com.

"The manufacturing sector continued to improve for the third consecutive month, as new orders and production show evidence of a stronger economy in September," said Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM's survey committee. "Both of these indices have grown over the past five months, which is very encouraging considering the challenges that the economy has faced in the last two years."

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Manufacturing
Layoffs
Economy

U.S. stock prices rose after the report, while Treasury bond prices fell. Traders may have been expecting the ISM number to be much worse, given the surprising weakness of manufacturing in the Chicago region, according to a report from Chicago purchasing managers Tuesday.

ISM's new orders index rose to 60.4 from 59.6 in August. The production index, however, fell to 57.3 from 61.6 in August.

The employment index fell to 45.7 from 45.9 in August, indicating manufacturers were cutting jobs at a faster pace.

Manufacturing workers have suffered the most during a long job slump in the broader U.S. economy; 2.3 million of the 2.8 million jobs lost since March 2001 have come from manufacturing. Some economists believe many of those jobs are gone for good.  Top of page




  More on NEWS
JPMorgan dramatically slashes Tesla's stock price forecast
Greece is finally done with its epic bailout binge
Europe is preparing another crackdown on Big Tech
  TODAY'S TOP STORIES
7 things to know before the bell
SoftBank and Toyota want driverless cars to change the world
Aston Martin falls 5% in its London IPO




graphic graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.