Input prices, jobs wobble

U.S. factory activity strengthened in April, but hiring slipped and input costs rose at the fastest pace in 10 months. (pmi.spglobal.com)anagers’ Index rose to 54.0 in April from 52.3 in March, the highest reading in eight months and above the 50 mark that signals expansion. The same release said output prices rose at the sharpest rate since mid-2022. (pmi.spglobal.com) The broader flash U.S. survey, released April 23, s(pmi.spglobal.com)y increase in 10 months, while overall private-sector employment fell for the first time in more than a year. Reuters reported supplier delivery times at factories worsened as the war with Iran disrupted supply chains. (pmi.spglobal.com) (msn.com) (pmi.spglobal.com) month before. A reading above 50 means more firms reported growth than contraction. (ismworld.org) (pmi.spglobal.com) (ismworld.org)d rising costs and weaker hiring on the other. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said manufacturers were showing “encouraging resilience” even as supply stress and energy costs climbed. (pmi.spglobal.com) March had already pointed in that direction. S&P Global said March manufacturing growth was driven main(pmi.spglobal.com)t since October 2022. (pmi.spglobal.com) Another factory survey has shown a similar cost problem. Bloomberg reported that the Institute for Supply Management’s prices-paid gauge climbed to 78.3 in March, the highest since mid-2022, even as that survey also pointed to trade and energy pressures. (bloomberg.com) The next check on whether April’s hiring wobble spreads will come with the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing report on the first business day of May and the Labor Department’s April jobs report after that. (ismworld.org) (bls.gov) (ismworld.org)