America’s Factory Malaise Ongoing, But No Worse

Activity in the beleaguered US manufacturing sector contracted a ninth month in July, according to marquee figures released on Tuesday. The lackluster reading was expected. The range of estimates from the five-dozen economists who ventured a guess on the ISM headline was 45.5 to 48.5. The actual print, 46.4, was thus in line with consensus. July's reading, bad as it was, actually counted as a marginal improvement from June. Meanwhile, the final read on S&P Global's gauge was 49, unchang