Manufacturing activity picked up a bit this month, according to July’s flash estimate of the sector’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI). The sentiment benchmark inched up to 53.8 after June’s 53.6 reading—a 20-month low. Any value above the neutral 50 mark represents growth. Today’s update still shows this cyclically sensitive sector in a relative funk compared with last year’s pace. Yet it’s also clear that the early data for this month suggests that manufacturing remains firmly in an expansion mode, albeit at a subdued rate.
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Next week’s “advance” GDP report (due on July 30) for the second quarter is projected to show that the US economy increased 1.9% (seasonally adjusted annual rate),  based on The Capital Spectator’s average estimate for several econometric-based forecasts. Today’s updated average forecast, which is slightly above last month’s Q2 estimate, marks a rebound after Q1’s 0.2% decline.
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There’s precious little hard data at this point for profiling the US economy in July, but the preliminary numbers so far suggest that growth will prevail and the manufacturing sector’s recent weakness will give way to a modestly stronger trend. We’ll know more when we see today’s flash July data for the US manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), scheduled for release at 9:45 am eastern–the consensus forecast sees the moderate growth rate in June ticking up slightly, according to Econoday.com. Meanwhile, the available July figures at the moment imply that the stronger pace of growth in June will carry over into this month.
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● US jobless claims fall to lowest level since 1973…
● US leading index rises more than forecast in June…
● Chicago Fed Nat’l Activity Index rebounds in June…
● But Bloomberg’s Consumer Comfort Index slides to 5-week low…
● Flash Eurozone Composite PMI dips in July, but still near 4-year high…
● While China Mfg. PMI reflects another month of contraction in July.