SaltWire's Atlantic regional weather forecast for October 24, 2023 | SaltWire - U.S. business output ticked higher in October as the manufacturing sector pulled out of a five-month contraction on a pickup in new orders, and services activity accelerated modestly amid signs of easing inflationary pressures.
Later this week the Commerce Department will offer up its scorecard of economic activity for the third quarter, with economists polled by Reuters estimating gross domestic product growth was the swiftest in nearly two years in the period from July through September. The S&P Global survey suggests that momentum has carried over into the start of the fourth quarter.
New manufacturing orders rose for the first time in six months and were the highest since September 2022. "The survey's selling price gauge is now close to its pre-pandemic long-run average and consistent with headline inflation dropping close to the Fed's 2% target in the coming months, something which looks likely to be achieved without output falling into contraction," Williamson said.