Manufacturing contracts in February

Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture, April, 2009

TEMPE, AZ -- The US manufacturing sector contracted in February for the 13th consecutive month, according to the latest survey of the nation's executives. The PMI index was 35.8%, down 20 basis points from January. A reading below 50% indicates the sector is generally contracting.

The new orders index was 33.1%, down 10 basis points from January. An index above 48.8%, over time, is generally consistent with an increase in the Census Bureau's series on manufacturing orders.

Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws) spokesperson Norbert J. Ore said, "Manufacturing continues to decline at a rapid rate in February. While production has slowed its rate of decline, employment continues to fall precipitously. Prices continue to decline, but price advantages are not sufficient to overcome manufacturers' apparent loss of demand."

                 OCT.       NOV.      DEC.      JAN.     FEB.

PMI              38.9       36.2      32.9      35.6     35.8
New orders       32.2       27.9      23.1      33.2     33.1
Production       34.1       31.5      26.3      32.1     36.3
Inventories      44.3       39.1      39.6      37.5     37.0
Customer
  inventories    55.0       55.0      57.0      55.5     51.0
Backlogs         29.5       27.0      23.0      29.5     31.0

Source: Institute for Supply Management, March 2, 2009

METALS INDEX

DATE            3/10/08   12/15/08   1/12/09   2/2/09   3/2/09

Gold (1)        $972.8     $853.5    $827.0    $918.3   $922.7
Silver (2)      $294.9     $156.4    $160.2    $183.8   $188.3
Copper (3)       $3.93      $1.39     $1.44     $1.43    $1.51
Tin (4)          $8.73      $5.33     $5.26     $4.81    $5.00

(1) 2nd London Fix price/tr.oz.  (2) Handy and Harman Silver
(COMEX Silver) price/LB. (3) LME Cash Seller and Settlement
for Copper price/LB. (4) LME Cash Seller and Settlement for
Tin price/LB.