In January, growth in the US manufacturing sector reached its highest level in the last nine months thanks to an improvement in orders and employment: the ISM index, which measures national activity, rose to 53,1 from 50,2, 2012 in December, the highest since April 50,2 and above analysts' expectations of 53,3. The index relating to new orders rose to 49,7 from 54 while that which measures employment rose to 51,9 from 50. It should be remembered that an index above XNUMX indicates a phase of economic expansion.
Again in January, consumer confidence also grew more than estimated. The University of Michigan index rose to 73,8 points from 72,9 in December and much higher than the mid-month estimate of 71,3 points. Analysts had expected a reading of 71,5 points. The sub-index measuring confidence on current economic conditions rose to 85 points from 84,4 points the previous month, while the sub-index measuring confidence on future conditions rose to 66,6 points from 62,7 points in December.
As regards inflation, one-year expectations fell to 3,3% from 3,4% in the December survey, while five-year expectations remained unchanged at 2,9%.
New highs also for the December data on construction expenditure which rose by 0,9% compared to the previous month (against analysts' estimates of +0,6%) and on the highs since August 2009. For the whole of 2012, the the result was +9,2%. This is the first positive annual report since 2006.
