Sweet Home Chicago? Chicago PMI Unexpectedly Plummets, Longest ‘Contraction’ Streak Since Great Financial Crisis

Confounded Interest ^ | 05/31/2023 | Anthony B. Sanders

[Kaiser8408a]

Sweet Home Chicago!

After the unexpected resurgence in April, Chicago PMI plunged in May from 48.6 to 40.4 (against expectations of 47.3). That is the ninth straight month below 50 (in contraction)…

Source: Bloomberg

That is the longest streak of prints in ‘contraction’ since the Great Financial Crisis.

Under the hood, none of the underlying drivers were higher MoM…

Prices paid rose at a slower pace; signaling expansion New orders fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction Employment fell and the direction reversed; signaling contraction Inventories fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction Supplier deliveries rose at a slower pace; signaling expansion Production fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction Order backlogs fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction This continues a trend of ‘soft’ survey data disappointing notably.

[Boogieman]

I don’t buy and sell real estate, I can only tell you about rentals, and we have high end residential stuff downtown and on the gold coast and we are not dropping rents or seeing high vacancies. So the residential market, at least for renters, still seems strong. It’s the commercial stuff that is a bit of a nightmare.

[nikos1121]

The measurement is for Cook County.

The other thing is you have so many new properties going up along the river. You would think buyers now have a wide selection.

The place is a toilet. You have less than a one square mile in the downtown area where it’s safe to walk.

[Navy Patriot]

Well, thanks for the link, it helped a lot, and I had no knowledge of business Purchasing Management.

I searched and came up with nothing, so your link taught me everything I know, thanks again.