Chicago PMI stumbles in April

The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, fell to 56.4 in April from 62.9 in the prior month. Economists had expected little change, with analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal forecasting a 62 reading.

The index is 14.4 points below it’s reading from April 2021. The index is produced by the ISM-Chicago with MNI. It is released to subscribers three minutes before its release to the public at 9:45 am Eastern.

The Chicago PMI is the last of the regional manufacturing indices before the national ISM data for April is released on Monday. In March, the ISM factory index slipped to 57.1, which is its lowest level since September 2020.

Factory activity in the Chicago area fell more quickly than expected in April as new order growth nearly stalled, the results of a survey showed. Market News International’s Chicago Business Barometer fell from a reading of 62.9 for March to 56.4 in April (consensus: 60.1).

All the main subindices fell save that tracking the prices paid by firms, which edged up by 0.4 points to 86.1. Survey respondents said the war in Ukraine was inflating prices for steel, plastics and lumber.

The key sub-index for new orders registered the largest drop, retreating by 10.8 points to 51.1, its lowest level since June 2020.

However, another sub-index linked to order backlogs remained at a “persistently high” 63.4. The 50.0 point level marks the threshold between a contraction and expansion in the sector with successively higher or lower readings denoting incrementally faster rates of growth or shrinkage.