Growth in the US manufacturing sector eased further in April, after reaching a 7-year high in February. In April, the manufacturing ISM dropped from 61.2 to 60.5, keeping up better than expected, as the consensus was looking for an outcome of 59.5. The details show a significant decline in production (53.8 from 69), while also new orders (61.7 from 63.3), supplier deliveries (60.2 from 63.1), employment (62.7 from 63) and imports (55.5 from 56.5) fell from the month before. Backlog of orders (61.0 from 52.5), inventories (56.3 from 47.4), customer inventories (40.5 from 39.5) and new export orders (62.0 from 56.0) improved in April and also inflationary pressures continued to accelerate as prices paid rose from 85.0 to 85.5.
Although growth in the US manufacturing sector is easing somewhat from the peak reached in February, the manufacturing sector continues to expand at a strong pace at the start of the second quarter, but price pressures are accelerating further due to rising commodity prices.