Theme of the Day: Global manufacturing output, new orders and employment all return to growth in Aug
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Key findings: Output rises at fastest pace since Jun 2024, International trade volumes fall again, US sees steepest rise in selling prices of all nations covered.
Global manufacturing operating conditions improved to the greatest extent since Jun 2024 in Aug, as levels of output, new orders and employment all returned to growth. The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI index rose to 50.9 in Aug, from 49.7 in Jul, to signal a slight improvement in operating conditions.
Production increased for the second time in the past three months in Aug, with the rate of expansion accelerating to a 14-month high. The consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors all returned to growth, with solid increases seen in the consumer and investment goods categories (growth was milder, in comparison, at intermediate goods producers).
Manufacturing new orders rose for the only the second time in the past five months in Aug, with mild expansions registered across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods sub-sectors. Panel members reported that tariff concerns continued to weigh on international trade flows, with new export business contracting for the fifth month in a row.
The outlook for the global manufacturing sector remained relatively downbeat in Aug. Although business optimism edged higher, the overall degree of positive sentiment remained below its long-run survey average for the seventeenth successive month.
Price pressures ticked higher in Aug, with rates of increase in input costs and selling prices accelerating to six and four-month highs, respectively. Inflationary pressure was especially marked in the US, which saw the steepest raise in output charges and the second-fastest increase in input costs (behind Romania) of the nations covered.
Aug saw average vendor lead times lengthen for the fifteenth successive month, although times have risen only modestly throughout this sequence. Finished goods stock levels stabilised, while inventories of purchased goods rose marginally.
