The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded for the ninth consecutive month in September, according to the latest monthly analysis from the Institute for Supply Management.
The ISM’s September PMI came in at 54.5%, a slight decline from the August level but still ahead of the 50% threshold indicating growth.
The group’s production index also slid by 1.6 percentage points but remained in “expansion” territory, while the indexes for new orders and employment accelerated month-over-month. The backlog of orders index, meanwhile, rose 4.6 percentage points, and the prices index jumped by 6.8 percentage points.
ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee Chair Susan Spence noted that despite a number of positive indicators, negative comments from survey respondents still outpaced positives ones — led by concerns about price volatility, tariffs, the war in Iran, and increasing lead times.
One respondent in the fabricated metal products industry pointed to a shortage of workers and the availability of sheet metal as major challenges as order levels “remain strong and elevated,” while another, in transportation equipment, wrote that in each new month, “we are faced with new headwinds created by this administration.”
“This month, it is the trade war with Canada, which every day is getting worse,” the latter respondent wrote, “causing prices to go up and uncertainty that creates massive disruption.”
