Markit Economics Manufacturing Report Shows Sizable Gain From November

The December final for Markit's U.S. manufacturing report is little changed from December's flash, up 1 tenth to 55.1 but up a sizable 1.2 points from November. Acceleration in new orders and a 2-year best for backlogs highlight December's results which also includes stronger production growth and a 3-year high for employment. Input costs rose on supply chain delays while selling prices, though still rising, did slow. Business confidence in this report is described as robust. One negative is only marginal growth for export sales.

This report showed much less strength last year than ISM manufacturing which perhaps heightens the importance of the strength in today's results. The jury is still out but the factory sector appears to have accelerated noticeably going into year end.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
PMI manufacturing rose a sharp 1.2 points in the December flash to 55.0. The flash showed increases for new orders, production and especially employment where growth in this sample was the best since September 2014. Forecasters see no change for final December with the consensus at 55.0.