by Calculated Risk on 1/03/2011 10:00:00 AM

PMI at 57.0% in December, up slightly from 56.6% in November. The consensus was for an increase to 57.2%.

From the Institute for Supply Management: December 2010 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®

Manufacturing continued to grow in December as the PMI registered 57 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage point when compared to November's reading of 56.6 percent. A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally contracting.
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ISM's New Orders Index registered 60.9 percent in December, which is an increase of 4.3 percentage points when compared to the 56.6 percent reported in November. This is the 18th consecutive month of growth in the New Orders Index. A New Orders Index above 50.2 percent, over time, is generally consistent with an increase in the Census Bureau's series on manufacturing orders
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ISM's Employment Index registered 55.7 percent in December, which is 1.8 percentage points lower than the 57.5 percent reported in November. This is the 13th consecutive month of growth in manufacturing employment.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

Here is a long term graph of the ISM manufacturing index.

This was slightly below expectations and in line with the regional Fed manufacturing surveys.