IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Inland Empire manufacturing gave itself some breathing room in January.
The region’s purchasing managers index was 54.8 last month, a substantial improvement from the 49.6 index recorded in December, according to data released Feb. 1.
More important, January ended three consecutive months of indexes below 50, the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San Bernardino reported.
“It takes three consecutive months of figures above or below 50 to establish a trend, so hopefully the January figure is a good start toward reestablishing a trend of growth,” said Barbara Sirotnik, institute director, in a statement.
The production index registered 60 during the first month of the year, up from 54.2 in December. New orders also showed strong month-over-month improvement: 64, up from 54.2 according to the index.
Employment was essentially unchanged: 46 in January, up from 45.8 in December.
Thirteen percent of the purchasing managers interviewed said they expect the local economy to get better during the next three months, while 56.5 percent said they expect it remain the same and 30.4 percent said they expect it to get weaker.
