Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Industrial Policy

Fairly new article on international manufacturing. I broke it down, added information plus another chart, and did some editing. It really was a good article on manufacturing. I just made it better based on my fifty years in supply chain and throughput. Industrial Policy is Back. Is That a Good Thing? What Are the Issues? […]

ISM manufacturing index improves in December, signaling near term continued economic expansion

 – by New Deal democrat Unusually this month, the ISM manufacturing index was delayed one day after the first business day of the month. In other words, it was released this morning instead of yesterday. In any event, a refresher that because manufacturing is of diminishing importance to the economy, and was in deep contraction both […]

Coming to America . . . More Manufacturing

Made in America returns! Consumer-goods supplier Reckitt Benckiser is looking to respond faster to shifts in demand for over-the-counter pharmaceuticals by moving more of its manufacturing to the U.S., its largest market. Reckitt is investing $200 million into a factory in Wilson, N.C., that it acquired last month, part of an effort to rewire its supply chain […]

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales: September 2024

Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales: September 2024, Census.Gov Friday, November 15, 2024 Sales The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for September is adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes. It was estimated at $1,881.2 billion, up 0.3 percent (±0.2 percent) from August 2024 and was […]

ISM manufacturing poor again in October

 – by New Deal democrat As usual, next week there will be a dearth of economic data, so I’ll report on construction spending then. In the meantime, we got another poor ISM manufacturing report, with the total index declining to 46.5, the lowest reading this year, while the more leading new orders component increased 1.0 […]

Things are So Bad, Industrial and Manufacturing Production are close to 10-year Highs

Industrial and manufacturing production close to 10 year+ highs in June  – by New Deal democrat If the news in housing construction the other morning was cautionary, the news on manufacturing and industrial production was very good. Manufacturing production (red in the graph below) rose 0.4% in June, and is only 0.2% below its post-pandemic […]

Manufacturing and construction make up the vast bulk of the goods producing sector, and they are still trending postive

The leading sectors of the labor market are still generally trending positive  – by New Deal democrat Our economic news drought ends tomorrow with the CPI report, and I’ve beaten the issue of unemployment to death, so today let’s turn to the leading sectors from the Establishment Survey portion of the jobs report, whereas I’ve […]