US Manufacturing Sector Contracts For Second Month In A Row, Misses Expectations Of Expansion

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/01/2012 - 10:12

Expectations that the American manufacturing sector would expand after "briefly" contracting in June were promptly doused after the Manufacturing ISM printed at 49.8, below expectations of an expansionary print of 50.2, and essentially unchanged from last month's 49.7. Where did offsetting growth come from? The most hollow of indicators - Inventory - which keeps on being built up in expectation of a demand spike that never comes. This is also the third miss in a row for the ISM, whose most watched component, the Employment index, slid from 56.6 to 52.0 confirming that the earlier ADP number was a total noisy fluke as usual. The question: is the data as bad as possible for it to be good for stocks remains unanswered, especially with some Knight algo wreaking havoc across all stocks as of this posting.