U.S. manufacturing strengthens
Sunday, October 4th, 2009What does this CBS News report say to you?
The stock market’s mood darkened after the Institute for Supply Management said its index of [U.S.] manufacturing activity in September slipped to 52.6 from 52.9 in August. The number fell short of analysts’ expectations.
It seems to me to say that U.S. manufacturing had weakened.
CBS’s hourly radio news bulletin reported the development Thursday evening in nearly these words, undoubtedly derived from the same CBS copy quoted above. What CBS did not explain on the air, and indeed what CBS does not explain even in the extended report linked above, is that the index in question of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reports not U.S. manufacturing activity but rather change in U.S. manufacturing activity.