It's not just China and Germany.
From John Kemp at Reuters, January 5:
U.S. manufacturers are still struggling to emerge from the prolonged slump that began in the middle of 2022 as the pandemic-driven surge in merchandise buying subsided and consumers reverted to spending on services.
Merchandise inventories have begun to normalise but companies making expensive business equipment and consumer durables are being hit by the high borrowing costs resulting from the biggest increases to interest rates for four decades.
U.S. manufacturers reported a decline in business activity for a 14th month in a row in December, the longest business cycle slowdown since the recessions in 2001 and early Nineties.
The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) purchasing managers index increased marginally to 47.4 (17th percentile for all months since 1980) from 46.7 (14th percentile) in October.
But the index has been below the 50-point threshold that divides expansion from contraction since November 2022....
....MUCH MORE
