S.E. Michigan Purchasing Managers Index ends two-month slide
The Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index ended a two-month slide in January, climbing from 54.8 in December to 57.1, which was the reading in November. The index, which hit its high of 66.4 in May, has been above 50 for 19 straight months. The employment component of the index increased from 58.8 up to 60, with commodity prices dropping from 47.2 to 44.2. “Contributing to deflationary pressures, as you’ll notice in very low gas prices at the pump, is the overabundance of crude oil in the marketplace,” Kenneth Doherty, assistant vice president of procurement and strategic sourcing at Wayne State University and a board member of the Institute for Supply Management-Southeast Michigan, said in a news release. "This is obviously great for commuters’ wallets, and automakers also are seeing increased sales of less efficient but higher profit vehicles.” The index is a research partnership between Wayne State’s Mike Ilitch School of Business and the Institute for Supply Management.
