June PMI Sample Reports Show Slowing

Barely crawling forward is the report from June's PMI samples. All the flash readings slowed slightly from May and all missed Econoday's consensus though they did manage to make low-end forecasts, at 50.6 for the composite (3-year low) split between a 50.1 for manufacturing (10-year low) and 50.7 for services (3-year low).

In contrast to most global PMIs, there is no sharp split between weakness in manufacturing and strength in services as both in the US are nearly as flat. Price pressures are subdued with manufacturing reporting a large drop in stocks of purchases. Composite confidence is the weakest in 7 years of available data on this question. Yet new orders for both manufacturing and services did improve while employment slowed but still grew.

This report had been stalling going into today's results but has since been joined by sudden breakdowns in this week's Empire State and Philadelphia Fed reports both of which are for manufacturing. For the Federal Reserve, who warned on Wednesday it's specifically concerned about manufacturing, today's report is one more weight on the rate-cut scale.