Factories around the world are slowly cranking into gear again
manufacturing slump.
The nascent industrial recovery is led by the world’s two biggest economies. Chinese manufacturing has made a strong start to the year, boosting the economic outlook, and US factory activity unexpectedly expanded last month for the first time since September 2022, buoyed by rising new orders and a jump in production.
JPMorgan/S&P Global’s manufacturing index notched a second month above expansionary territory in March and sits at the highest level since July 2022. If sustained, that’ll help catalyze a broader and stronger economic recovery that’s already spreading beyond the US.
“Manufacturing PMIs are back to expansion in key economies including China, the UK and the US,” said Janet Mui, head of market analysis at RBC Brewin Dolphin, referring to purchasing manager indexes. “The synchronized nature of the recovery tends to be good signal for a cyclical upturn in global growth.”
Greg Clement, who owns Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Argon Industries, which makes high-end metal products used in everything from refrigerators and medical equipment to the defense sector, is among those benefiting.
“We are seeing an uptick in projects,” he said. “Six months ago it was not good and right now we have a really good pipeline of work for 2024.”
While it’s still early days — a surprise downturn in China’s exports suggests the recovery may be bumpy — the activity nonetheless marks a departure from the slowdown that took hold globally as consumer
