Manufacturing activity contracted in May as imports hit lowest level since 2009

Economic activity in the American manufacturing sector continued to shrink in May, when imports fell to its lowest level since 2009.

Institute of Information Managers for the manufacture of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) recorded a reading of 48.5 in May, from April 48.7 reading. Readings above 50 of this index indicate an expansion of activity, while readings of less than 50 indicate a shrinkage. The manufacturing sector has been in a shrinkage for most of the past two years.

The import index sank to a 39.9 reading, much less than 47.1 seen in April. The significant decrease in imports came when companies wrestle with president Trump’s rise in various countries. While Trump recently expanded some of his initial definitions, a wide range of drawings is still in place.

“Imports continue to contract because the demand has reduced the need to maintain import levels from the previous months, as well as due to the impact of pricing customs tariffs,” Susan Spence, Chair of the ISM manufacturing committee, said in a statement.

Spence later told Yahoo Finance in an interview that the greatest interest among ISM team members is the customs tariff, with 86 % of the responses that remembered the drawings in their comments. Some respondents compared the current operating environment to the conflicts seen during the epidemic in 2020.

“So the only thing that can help is certainty and anything will finally happen with individual countries,” said Spence.

A separate reading on the S& P Global manufacturing activity, which was released on Monday, was recorded 52, with an increase of a pre -reading of 50.2. But Chris Williamson, the world’s chief economist, wrote in the release of the title “masks that cause concern under the hood” for the American manufacturing sector.

Williamson wrote: “While the growth of the new requests that were captured, according to what the suppliers were more preoccupied as companies built their stock levels at an unprecedented rate, the joint issue was a temporary increase in the demand as manufacturers and their customers worry about supply problems and high prices.”

Josh Chevir is a Yahoo financing correspondent. Follow it on x _joshschafer.

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