On December 1, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released the results of a monthly survey of manufacturing supply executives that stated November was a positive month for the economy. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector rose for the fifth consecutive month while the overall economy grew for the 25th consecutive month.
ISM’s manufacturing index climbed 5.8 points from 57 in October to 62.8 in November as the new-orders index jumped 9.4 points to the highest level in nearly 20 years, and the production index rose 5.7 points. Both gains were the seventh in a row, and both showed increases in 16 out of 20 manufacturing industries.