US Manufacturing “An Increasing Drag On The Economy” As PMI Drops For First Time Since March

Following a stronger-than-expected Eurozone PMI print this morning, Markit reports a mixed bag for preliminary September US PMIs with Manufacturing limping higher but Services missing expectations and slipping notably. After 5 straight months of gains, the US Composite PMI dropped back below pre-election levels.
As Markit notes, there were signs of underlying fragility in September, with new orders expanding at one of the slowest rates seen over the past year.
Latest data also indicated that new export sales remain close to stagnation.
Despite the ongoing collapse of ‘hard’ economic data, ‘soft’ surveys continue to remain hopeful…

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Sep 22, 2017.