Inland manufacturing was solid in February

Inland Empire manufacturing continued to bounce back in February, posting a purchasing managers index of 52.1.

That was the second consecutive month the index was above 50 – January’s index was 54.8  – so if March comes in at 50 or better, manufacturing in Riverside and San Bernardino counties will be growing, according to the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San Bernardino.

Production registered 56.3 last month, only a slight drop from January. The new orders index – 54.2 – was down from 64, still above the 50 benchmark that divides growth from no growth, but still a substantial month-over-month fall.

The commodity price index was also solid: 54.2, down from 62 in January, while inventories were up slightly compared with the first month of the year.

Unfortunately, not all of the data in the February index was good news: the employment index was 45.8, a minuscule drop from January but the fourth consecutive month that number has been below 50.

The region’s purchasing managers were, once again, pessimistic about the Inland economy’s immediate future. Only 4.5 percent said they expect things to improve during the next three months. While 50 percent said they expect it to stay the same, and 45.5 percent said they believe it will regress, according to the institute.