Manufacturing in the U.S. was close to stagnating in October as cooling global demand prompted factories to pare production and reduce inventories.
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index dropped to 50.8 last month from 51.6 in September, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s data showed today. A reading of 52 was the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Fifty is the dividing line between growth and contraction.
