We Interrupt The Obama-TUCC Bulletin Series …..
….. to let you know that the Institute for Supply Management’s Non-Manufacturing Index returned pretty convincingly to expansion mode in April:
“The NMI (Non-Manufacturing Index) increased 2.4 percentage points to 52 percent, indicating expansion after three consecutive months of contraction within the non-manufacturing sector for April 2008.”
The report, which covers the 85% or so of the economy that isn’t manufacturing, blew away expectations of a 0.3% decline to 49.3%.
The weighted average of the two indices (manufacturing came in at a contracting but improving 48.6% last Thursday) is 51.5%. That is definitely expansion — not by as much as anyone would like, but decidedly positive.
MarketWatch’s Rex (”U.S. could have recession without drop in GDP because I say so”) Nutting was apparently not available for comment.
Recession, reschmession.
[…] for May (15% for Manufacturing, which came in at 49.6%, and 85% for NMI) is 51.4%, a tiny drop from last month’s 51.5%. The economy as a whole continues to expand, though not briskly, or even in my view […]
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