Factories have made up some of the ground lost in lockdown, as demand for manufactured goods picked up domestically and abroad last month, but are still cutting jobs.
The purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing, a closely watched real-time measure of private sector activity, rose to 55.2 from July’s figure of 53.3. It was the fastest pace of growth since May 2014, where any reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The manufacturing PMI has been in positive territory for three months after the index’s fall to a historic low in April and further weakness in May, when much of the economy was shut down.
New orders rose at their fastest pace since November 2017 and while the bulk of the demand for new manufactured products was from
