U.S. Manufacturing Expands in October
U.S. manufacturing activity’s rate of expansion rose in October, the Institute for Supply Management reported Nov. 1.
ISM’s monthly factory index increased to a 56.4 reading, the highest since April 2011, from 56.2 in September, the group said in its monthly report.
Figures of more than 50 indicate expansion, while figures below that level show contraction.
The index topped economists’ median forecast of a 55 reading, Bloomberg News reported.
“Manufacturing activity picked up some steam in October,” Brian Jones, senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale, told Bloomberg News.
The budget impasse “in Washington was just a distraction, and obviously it looks like it wasn’t all that big a distraction to the manufacturing sector at all,” he said.
ISM’s factory index measures manufacturing components of the economy.
