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Axios
Axios
Business
Dion Rabouin

A key U.S. manufacturing index has hit its lowest level since September 2009

Data: ISM, Investing.com; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The U.S. has managed to largely avoid the slump that has hit manufacturing industries this year, but May's reading of both the IHS Markit and ISM PMI numbers shows luck may be running out quickly.

Threat level: The IHS Markit manufacturing index hit its lowest since September 2009, holding just above a level indicating the sector is shrinking, which it hasn't done since the financial crisis.

  • The ISM manufacturing index showed U.S. industry slowed to its weakest pace since October 2016.

The big picture: A reading on global PMI released Monday showed manufacturing is falling into contraction for the rest of the world.

  • "Business conditions deteriorated to the greatest extent in over six-and-a-half years, as production volumes stagnated and new orders declined at the fastest pace since October 2012," representatives from IHS Markit and JPMorgan, who jointly produce the survey, said in a statement.

The bottom line: May marked the 9th straight month manufacturing growth has contracted. Business optimism fell to its lowest level since future activity data were first collected in July 2012.

Go deeper: China's manufacturing rises as U.S., Japan and Europe fall

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