The S&P Global survey, however, likely exaggerates the slowdown in economic activity. The Institute for Supply Management surveys have shown manufacturing and services industries growing steadily so far this year, challenging the notion that the economy was in recession.
The economy is slowing as the Federal Reserve aggressively tightens monetary policy to cool demand and bring inflation back to the U.S. central bank’s 2 per cent target. The survey’s flash manufacturing PMI nudged up to 51.8 this month from 51.5 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index slipping to 51.1. New orders grew for the first time in four months in September.