欧美文化:U.S. manufacturing activity slows in December as supply constraints start to ease

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. manufacturing sector continued to expand in December but at the slowest pace in 11 months as supply constraints started to ease, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported on Tuesday.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index registered 58.7 percent last month, down 2.4 percentage points from the November reading and the lowest level since January 2021. Any reading above 50 percent indicates the manufacturing sector is generally expanding.

"The U.S. manufacturing sector remains in a demand-driven, supply chain-constrained environment, with indications of improvements in labor resources and supplier delivery performance," said Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM's manufacturing business survey committee.

"Coronavirus pandemic-related global issues -- worker absenteeism, short-term shutdowns due to parts shortages, employee turnover and overseas supply chain problems -- continue to impact manufacturing," Fiore said.

Tim Quinlan and Shannon Seery, economists at Wells Fargo Securities, said that sharp declines in delivery times and prices were key drivers of the decline in the U.S. manufacturing index last month and signal some welcome improvement in supply chain issues and inflationary pressures.

"While we certainly are not making massive changes to our inflation forecast at this point, today's report is consistent with our expectation that inflation will hit an inflection point probably in the first quarter of this year," the economists said in an analysis.

"After that inflection point, we still expect inflation to remain stubbornly high and above the Fed's target rate, but it will at least be slowing on a year-over-year basis," they said.

However, supply issues will likely persist throughout the year as the rise in the Omicron variant more recently presents some near-term risk of exacerbating bottlenecks across the supply chain, the economists noted.

"Infected workers may further disrupt severe labor shortages and lead to a decline in production and pick up in delivery times," they said.