IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The Inland Empire’s manufacturing sector made a comeback in July, sparked by growth in new orders and despite a drop in production.
The region’s purchasing managers index last month was 50.9, up from 48.6 in June, according to data released Aug. 1 by the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San Bernardino.
Although not a spectacular score, 50.9 represents a solid month-over month improvement, and it stops, for the moment, the possibility of three consecutive sub-50 indexes. That would mean a shrinking manufacturing sector in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
For the eighth consecutive month, the new orders index remained stable: 52.3 in July, essentially unchanged from the previous four weeks. Production was 43.2, the second consecutive month below 50 and a sign of “sustained contraction” in production, according to the data.
Production and new orders are considered the index’s primary components. The employment and commodity price indexes both declined between June and July.
Fifty four point five percent of the purchasing managers surveyed said they expect the Inland economy to remain static during the next three months, while 13.6 percent predicted it will improve and 31.8 percent believe it will get worse, according to the index.
