Another day, another batch of dismal economic data. This time it’s the ISM Manufacturing index. It came in at 38.9in October, down from 43.5 in September and below forecasts for a reading of 41. That’s the worst ISM reading going allthe way back to September 1982. In case you’re wondering, the worst reading ever (my data goes back 60 years) was 29.4in May 1980.
Digging deeper into the report, the ISM subindex measuring new orders dropped to 32.2 from 38.8. The subindex measuringemployment fell to 34.6 from 41.8. And the subindex measuring production dropped to 34.1 from 40.8.
Meanwhile, in the beleaguered auto sector, Ford reported that sales plunged 30% from a year earlier in October. Salesfell 23% at Toyota and 33% at Nissan. Auto sales are down 12 months in a row, the longest consecutive stretch ofdeclines in 17 years.
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