**As seen in Risk In The Week report 04/29/24, subscribe at cablefxm.co.uk/reports
The March ISM gauge for the manufacturing sector rose to 50.3 from the prior 47.8, this was above economists' expectations of 48.3. The manufacturing survey rose above 50.0 for the first time since October 2022. Strength in the manufacturing sector was driven by new orders and production, while employment and inventories continued to drag. The fact that the sector topped all economists' estimates and that the index is above the expansionary threshold shows a resilient economy after the Fed's monetary tightening. As a reminder, the ISM is a diffusion index and compares the state of the sector vs the prior month, in other words, an expansionary reading will only tell that things a better than the month before. Analysts at ING dropped a word of caution as they flagged the current ISM reading in line with GDP growing 0.5% vs the 3.0% reported in 1Q, ING pencils the figure at 50.3. April ISM manufacturing PMI will be the last data point before the Fed decides on interest rates.
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