Manufacturing activity contracted in December for the second straight month, according to the Institute of Supply Management’s (ISM) Manufacturing Report on Business.
The PMI, the ISM’s index to measure growth, came in at 48.2 (50 or higher indicates growth) in December, which dropped 0.4 percent compared to November’s 48.6. November represented the first month since November 2012 that the PMI contracted, as well as the first declining month in a 36-month span, and December’s PMI is at its lowest level since June 2009.
