Last month the expansion of American manufacturing has experienced a slight acceleration. Between February and March the general ISM index of the USA, which measures the level of economic activity in the sector, increased by exactly one point, going from 52,4 to 53,4. A result even higher than the forecasts, which on average did not go beyond 53 points. The index remains above the threshold of 50 points, which divides the phases of economic expansion from those of contraction.
As for the principals sub-indexes, expectations on production and employment improve (from 53,2 to 56,1, the maximum since last June), production (to 58,3 from 55,3) and inventories (to 50 from 49,5), while those on prices fell (to 61 from 61,5) and new orders (to 54,5 from 54,9).
