Manufacturing in March Grew for a Tenth Straight Month

March was a good month for manufacturing, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM’s manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index rose 3.9 points from February to reach 64.7%, making March the tenth month of an expanding industrial economy following a sharp downturn in April 2020. March saw some of the same trends as February, but at an accelerated pace: the ISM’s indexes for new orders, production, employment, backlog of orders, and imports all continued to grow at a faster rate than they grew in February. The indexes tracking manufacturing production (up 3.2 points to 68.0%) and new orders (up 4.9 points to 68.1%) notched ten-month growth streaks, while the index tracking order backlogs reached nine months of growth as it rose 3.5 points to 67.5%. The employment index, which rose 5.2 points to 59.6%, continued to grow for a fourth month.