US Manufacturing Grew at Slower Pace in Oct

The index of US manufacturing activity by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined to 51.2% in October, from 52.9% in the previous month, indicating America's manufacturing sector continued to grow in the month, though the extent was not large. Within manufacturing, new orders dropped 2.1 percentage points to 52.1% while production fell 4.2 percentage points to 51.9%, indicating that the growth in new orders and production slowed down from the previous month. The index is an indicator of the business activity of America's manufacturing sector. A figure above 50% means the sector is growing.