US factories expanded for fifth-straight month in July

According to the ISM, a non-manufacturing reading of 55.5 corresponds to an annualised GDP growth rate of around 2.6%.

The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index dipped to 52.6 % last month from 53.2% in June, which marked a one-year high.

The various Indexes in the ISM PMI survey are a mixed bag for July, with New Orders dropping 0.1% from 57% in June to 56.9% in July, showing that category to be flat. Production also rose faster as the index reached 55.4%.

Still, growth was broadly shared in July. Fifteen non-manufacturing industries reported growth in July, while three reported contraction.

The broader USA economy posted weak growth in the first half of 2016, with gross domestic product expanding at a modest 1.2% annual rate in the second quarter following a first-quarter growth pace of just 0.8%, according to the Commerce Department.

Several executives said they are monitoring the fallout from the so-called Brexit vote in which the United Kingdom elected to leave the European Union. The economic fallout for the US remains uncertain for now, and some Federal Reserve officials have cited Brexit as a potential risk. Customer Inventories are up 1% to 51 in July, unchanged from June’s number and are considered “too high” in the ISM report. “For the very near term, I see little choice but to exercise some patience and let the picture clarify”. The 50 mark separates contraction from expansion.

” Besides the indication of continued buoyancy in overall activity in the service sector, the upbeat assessment in the key forward-looking indicators points to continued strong growth in this crucial segment of the US economy going forward”, stated Millan L.B. Mulraine, Deputy Chief US Macro Strategist at TD Securities, in a note. Businesses in the U.S.

“It’s a nice, well-balanced report”.

The U.S. economy is still growing at a steady pace, a new ISM survey finds.

The sprawling USA service economy remained on a path of decent growth headed into the second half of 2016.

“At this point there is not enough information, not enough time has gone by to understand the impact of Brexit”, Harley-Davidson Inc.