American economic activity continued to flow This month in the midst of uncertainty around the pricing policy.
New data from S&P Global Out on Wednesday showed Its PMI composite flash output index, which captures activity in the services and manufacturing sectors, fell to 51.2 in April, reaching its lowest level in 16 months.
The manufacturing activity increased to 50.7, against 50.2 in March, while the activity of the services fell to 51.4 against 54.4. Readings above 50 indicate an expansion of activity in the sector; Readings less than 50 indicate a contraction.
The feeling of the coming year has dropped sharply, reaching the lowest level since July 2022 and the second lower since September 2020.
Meanwhile, the prices invoiced for goods and services “increased at the net rate for a little over a year,” said S&P Global in a press release. Manufactured products have seen a “particularly steep increase”, associated with higher prices.
Find out more: What Trump's prices mean for the economy and your wallet
“The first Flash PMI data for April indicate a marked slowdown in the growth of commercial activities at the start of the second quarter, accompanied by an collapse of optimism on the prospects,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “At the same time, price pressures have intensified, creating a headache for a central bank which undergoes increasing pressure to consolidate a weakened economy when inflation seems to increase.”
Williamson added that confidence in the commercial conditions of the coming year has deteriorated, “largely thanks to increasing concerns concerning the impact of recent announcements of government policy”.
Wednesday data is the latest A series of weak investigations into activity in the manufacturing and services sectors. Tuesday, the Survey by Richmond Federal Reserve on manufacturing activities revealed that the composite manufacturing index fell to -13 in April, against -4. Meanwhile, the new orders of the month fell on a -15 reading, well below -4 seen in March. Also released on Tuesday, the Commercial prospects for the manufacture of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve The investigation fell to a reading of -42.7, its lowest reading since May 2020.
These data followed the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Survey on manufacturing commercial outlook Last week, which showed a general activity in the sector fell to a reading index of -26 in April, its lowest reading since April 2023 and well below the reading of 12.5 the previous month. The edge -to -April movement is inferior marked The fourth monthly decrease in historyonly dragging departures in 2020 and 2008.
