Manufacturing’s Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

America’s manufacturers are still downbeat, but the worst might be behind them

Manufacturers now have a couple of things going for them.Photo: Sergio Flores for The Wall Street Journal

American manufacturers were slightly less morose last month.

The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said its index of factory activity ticked up to a seasonally adjusted 47.7 in February from the 32-month low of 47.4 hit in January. That still leaves it below 50, indicating that more of the manufacturers the ISM polled experienced reduced activity than growth. A similarly constructed manufacturing index from S&P Global rose to 47.3 last month from 46.9 in January.

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