US Manufacturing Continues to Grow

On Thursday the ISM (Institute for Supply Management) announced that the US manufacturing sector has grown for the eighth straight month. The current ISM manufacturing index is a six year high at 59.6%. The manufacturing index number indicates that with higher numbers more firms are growing. The good news for US manufacturing seems to be across the board with nearly 17 of 18 firms growing on average and only the plastic industry shrinking.

According to the Wall Street Journal “factories are reviving the economy”. This is true abroad as well as within the US with China’s manufacturing sector growing for the 13th straight month. Also many Euro-zone countries are experiencing growth with the exception of debt riddled Greece.

Despite the growth of firms in US manufacturing, employers are still reluctant to hire. They are pointing out that although the sector’s growth continues, the overall growth has begun to slow down.