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Hardigan, according to your link, text follows...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing growth nearly ground to a halt in July, a report said on Thursday, showing the economy has cooled significantly from earlier this year and raising concerns that the recovery could be in jeopardy.

Spending on new construction projects also slumped for a second consecutive month in June to its slowest pace in nearly two years, while first-time claims for jobless benefits edged up in the past week, two separate government reports said.

Taken together with news this week that the economy grew at an anemic 1.1 percent pace in the second quarter, the data cast further doubt on the durability of the recovery. They also raised speculation that the Federal Reserve ( news - web sites) may need to cut interest rates again to shore up growth.

"Fed officials should be quite worried about the sudden fall-off in manufacturing," said John Youngdahl, senior economist at Goldman Sachs. "This is the sector of the economy that should now be performing most strongly."

Stocks extended losses, with the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> down more than 200 points. Treasury securities rallied, pushing yields to near-record lows seen last week as traders priced in mounting chances of a Fed cut.

The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly manufacturing index fell in July to its lowest level since January, down to 50.5 from 56.2 in June. While that was the sixth straight month of growth, the index showed manufacturing was barely expanding, at a level just above 50.

"The recovery may be losing momentum." said Anthony Karydakis, senior financial economist at Banc One Capital Markets.

The fall was much sharper than Wall Street expected and was a major slowdown from June, which registered the fastest growth in more than two years. Manufacturing makes up about one-sixth of the economy.

STOCK MARKET PAIN

A punishing stock market sell-off in July had caused businesses to slam on the brakes after a boost of confidence about growth prospects earlier in the year, said Norbert Ore, head of the ISM committee that compiles its monthly manufacturing survey, in a teleconference with reporters.

Battered by earnings worries and corporate accounting scandals, stocks fell through July to their lowest level in five years before rebounding slightly. That weighed on manufacturers' confidence as they watched stocks fall.

"People got very conservative," Ore said.

After a powerful run-off of inventories left over from boom times, factories rapidly boosted production earlier this year to meet rising demand. But as businesses became more conservative about the outlook for demand, they scaled back production.

In a sign that production is likely to fall further in future months as factories curtail inventory-building, the New Orders Index, which measures future demand for goods, fell more than 10 points in July, to 50.4 from 60.8.

With fewer goods coming off assembly lines and orders drying up, factories also accelerated layoffs during the month, extending a trend since mid-2000, with about 1.8 million factory workers losing their jobs.

The ISM Employment Index fell in July to 45.0 from 49.7 in June, its 22nd straight month below 50.

While economists cautioned that July is typically a slow month for factories, it still raised concerns that a government monthly report on employment across the nation, due on Friday, may be weaker than expected.

"I'm waiting for confirmation from the labor markets as to whether the business sector is turning more cautious," said Alan Levenson, chief economist at T. Rowe Price Associates in Baltimore.

SPENDING SLUGGISH

Consumers have not yet halted their spending but clearly are being encouraged by deep price discounts and incentives. Ford Motor Co. said its July U.S. vehicle sales rose 1.5 percent, the first in a series of reports due from the big automakers on Thursday that are expected to be strong thanks to zero-percent financing incentives.

Spending, however, is slumping elsewhere. Construction spending fell 2.2 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of $820.8 billion, the Commerce Department ( news - web sites) said. That followed a revised 2.0 percent decline in May spending, which had originally been reported as a smaller 0.7 percent drop.

That was the slowest spending rate since August 2000 and was off 3.7 percent compared with June 2001.

The sharp drop in June construction spending, which was much deeper than expected, raised concerns that the already-sluggish 1.1 percent second-quarter Gross Domestic Product growth could be revised downward.

"These data point to weaker construction spending than reported in the GDP ( news - web sites) release and suggest a downward revision," wrote economists at Bear, Stearns & Co.

Construction spending on new commercial buildings fell 3.4 percent to a $165.4 billion annual rate -- its slowest pace since September 1996 -- reflecting weak demand among firms for new properties. Residential demand, buoyed by low mortgage rates, held up better, dropping only 0.9 percent in June.

Separately, first-time claims for jobless insurance -- an early reading on the resilience of the labor market -- rose by 20,000 to 387,000 in the July 27 week from 367,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department ( news - web sites) said.

The four-week moving average rose to 386,000 in the week ended July 27, up from 385,750 the previous week, but well below the 397,000 reported for the same period a year ago when the country was in the midst of the 2001 recession.

...things don't appear as rosy as LS implies.
What gives?