Economics and Material Handling
With everything happening in the world (looking at you Brexit) the economy continues to shift a bit unpredictably, which can be hard to keep up with as companies try to please customers and turn a profit. While China has been in a manufacturing recession for the last year and a half, Europe has had an improvement in their manufacturing economy. The Chinese Manufacturing PMI now sits at 48.6, which is down from May’s index of 49.2 and shows indicators of the condition continuing to worsen.
However, the Eurozone PMI has increased from 51.5 in May to 52.8 in June. Eurozone is expanding and was on a strong upward trajectory before Brexit. In the US, there has been a surprisingly positive upward acceleration which is good for US equity markets as well as industrial metals and oil prices. The US ISM Manufacturing Index jumped from 51.3 in May all the way to 53.2 in June.
In the material handling industry, the economic pace is improving and dealer activity accelerating, which implies that the US material handling industry is expanding, which in turn is positive for the US economy. Following the Brexit announcement in June, the July numbers released in early August should provide a better picture of the impact of that decision. As we move forward in the year, we can continue to serve our customers and keep the supply chain strong while boosting the overall economic cloud.
