PMPA Business Trends July 2018
With 83 companies responding, the PMPA Business Trends Index for July 2018 declined from 138- the highest June on record- to 128, the highest value for July on record, down 7.3% from May and June levels. The 2018 July index of 128 is 14.3% higher than July 2017’s 112 value. Our industry gets to take a breather. Our year to date average is 135, up 10 points or 8.0% over 2017’s year-end average of 125. We are at 107% year to date. The FED reported that Industrial Production (IP) “edged up 0.1 percent in July after rising at an average pace of 0.5 percent over the previous five months.
Manufacturing production increased 0.3 percent… At 108.0 percent of its 2012 average, total
industrial production was 4.2 percent higher in July than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was unchanged in July at 78.1 percent,” Manufacturing production remains strong.