- Prior -13.5
- Employment 4.0 vs -5.7 prior
- Prices paid 23.1 vs 25.7 prior
- Prices received 14.6 vs 14.8 prior
- New orders 4.4 vs -10.2 prior
- Shipments 10.8 vs -3.2 prior
- Delivery times -21.4 vs -14.9 prior
- Inventories -7.0 vs 8.9 prior
Here’s the readings from the expectations component i.e. six months from now:
- Business activity index 9.2 vs 11.1 prior
- Employment 7.8 vs 6.5 prior
- Prices paid 48.5 vs 48.0 prior
- Prices received 46.9 vs 36.5 prior
- Capex -4.8 vs 7.5 prior
- New orders 18.9 vs 25.6 prior
- Shipments 5.4 vs 30.5 prior
- Delivery times -17.1 vs -9.5 prior
- Inventories 4.9 vs -3.4 prior
The headline reading may have improved compared to September but it remains negative and is the 15th such reading in the past 17 months. In terms of activity change, roughly 35% of firms reported declining activity, while 26% reported increases; with around 38% indicating no change in business activity.
One thing to note is that firms are continuing to report an increase in prices with 29% of firms saying that they are seeing an increase in input prices, compared to only 6% reporting a decrease.