Chicago PMI index 55.9 in July vs 52.5 in June

Biz.Yahoo/Reuters ^ | July 31, 2003

[Starwind]

Chicago PMI index 55.9 in July vs 52.5 in June
Thursday July 31, 10:05 am ET

 NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - The National Association of
Purchasing Management-Chicago said on Thursday its index of Midwest
manufacturing activity came in at 55.9 in July, up from 52.5 in June and above
analyst expectations of 54.0.
 The reading remained above the critical threshold of 50,
which separates growth from contraction in the sector.
.                    July June  May   Apr   Mar    Feb   Jan   Dec
(seasonal adj)
NAPM-Chicago         55.9 52.5  52.2  47.6  48.4   54.9  56.0  51.7
Production*          58.4 56.5  60.5  51.0  49.1   62.4  63.1  52.6
New Orders*          61.7 54.8  54.6  44.6  52.5   59.0  58.0  56.0
Order Backlog*       49.4 45.8  44.4  45.8  43.5   44.6  46.1  49.4
Inventories          39.4 48.8  42.3  43.0  48.0   46.2  44.0  43.1
Employment*          46.0 43.8  43.6  43.7  45.1   46.6  45.6  48.1
Supplier Deliveries* 49.3 46.6  50.3  51.8   51.7  52.2  48.2
Prices Paid*         47.9 53.7  55.9  62.8   54.9  54.2  61.8
(* indicates components used to calculate index)

[Starwind]

The full report (.pdf) is at Chicago Business Baraomter - July 2003

[Starwind]

Fyi...

[Uncle Miltie]

Oh no! Good manufacturing news! Some people's heads will explode!

[Lunatic Fringe]

Dow 9,344.38 +144.33 (+1.57%)

[Lunatic Fringe]

[steveegg]

Hot damn; more good news.

[JNB]

The devil is in the details,. how much of this was related to defense orders, and how much of this was related to goods that have been orderd because of activities related to housing?