U.S. factory activity hit a decade low last month in the face of President Trump’s trade conflicts, adding to a weakening picture of the global economy. This month’s ISM measure reported the lowest level of manufacturing activity since June 2009, the last month of the Great Recession. And given factory declines overseas as well, the global economy is also at rising risk. Timothy Fiore, head of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, pointed to the 2.3-percentage-point drop in a measure of new export orders, its lowest level since March 2009. “Simmering trade tension is the obvious culprit for the manufacturing weakness,” said Eric Winograd, senior U.S. economist at AllianceBernstein.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 01, 2019 22:18 UTC