‘Season Of Contradictions’ Grips US Factories As Stagflation Looms

US factory activity contracted for a sixth consecutive month in April. That was the bad news. The good news in Monday's sole meaningful data release from the world's largest economy was that the headline reading on the nation's marquee manufacturing survey held up better than expected. At 47.1, ISM manufacturing narrowly beat consensus, which was looking for 46.8. The range of guesses from more than five-dozen economists was 45.6 to 48.7. The final read on S&P Global's gauge for April, al