TOP PERFORMING INDUSTRIES

The eight industries reporting growth in January — listed in order — are: Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Chemical Products; Primary Metals; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; and Machinery. The industries reporting contraction in January are: Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Printing and Related Support Activities; Textile Mills; Wood Products; Furniture & Related Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Computer & Electronic Products; and Transportation Equipment.

WHAT RESPONDENTS ARE SAYING ...

""""""""We are in a squeeze between supplier pressure to raise prices and customer pressure to reduce prices."""""""" (Chemical Products)
""""""""The softness in residential construction has begun to manifest itself in commercial construction."""""""" (Machinery)
""""""""Strong backlog now, better than last year [at the] same time."""""""" (Furniture & Related Products)
""""""""Commodity prices continue to trade at all-time highs."""""""" (Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products)
""""""""Customer demand was generally soft last month due to the holidays and a downturn in automobile production."""""""" (Fabricated Metal Products)


COMMODITIES REPORTED UP/DOWN IN PRICE and IN SHORT SUPPLY

Commodities Up in Price


Caustic Soda (4); Chemicals; Cobalt; Copper Laden Products; Corn; Corrugated Containers (5); Diesel Fuel (2); Freight; Fuel Surcharges (2); Low Density Polyethylene; Natural Gas (3); Nickel; Oil (3); Oil-related Products; Plastic Resin; Polypropylene Resin (3); PVC; Soybean Oil; Steel; and Sulfuric Acid (3).

Commodities Down in Price

Zinc is the only commodity reported down in price.
Commodities in Short Supply


No commodities are reported in short supply.


JANUARY 2008 MANUFACTURING INDEX SUMMARIES PMI


Manufacturing expanded in January as the PMI registered 50.7 percent, an increase of 2.3 percentage points when compared to December''s seasonally adjusted reading of 48.4 percent. A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally contracting.

A PMI in excess of 41.1 percent, over a period of time, generally indicates an expansion of the overall economy. Therefore, the PMI indicates that both the overall economy and the manufacturing sector are growing at this time. """"""""The past relationship between the PMI and the overall economy indicates that the PMI for January (50.7) corresponds to a 3 percent increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) on an annual basis.""""""""

New Orders

ISM''s New Orders Index registered 49.5 percent in January. The index is 2.6 percentage points higher than the seasonally adjusted 46.9 percent reported in December. A New Orders Index above 51.6 percent, over time, is generally consistent with an increase in the Census Bureau''s series on manufacturing orders (in constant 2000 dollars).