Mfg. growth weakest in 2 years: factories "gird for slower growth"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Manufacturing growth weakest in 2 years
ISM survey shows factories cutting inventories as they gird for slower growth.
May 2, 2005: 11:09 AM EDT

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/02/news/economy/ism/index.htm?cnn=yes

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Manufacturing grew last month at the slowest pace in nearly two years, according to a survey of executives in the sector, in the latest sign of a slowdown in the broader economy.

The Institute of Supply Management's manufacturing index dropped to 53.3 for April, down from 55.2 in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast the closely watched index would come in at 55. A reading above 50 indicates growth in the sector, and April marked the 23rd straight month of growth in manufacturing -- the longest expansion in the sector in 16 years, since nearly three years of uninterrupted growth ended in April 1989.

But the report added to a recent string of economic readings pointing to slower of growth in the U.S. economy. "The rate of growth slowed to its lowest level since July 2003," Norbert Ore, chair of the business research group's survey committee, said in a statement.

"The trend is definitely toward a slower pace of growth, and that should relieve some of the pricing pressure that the sector has experienced during 2004 and year-to-date in 2005. Declines in inventories indicate that manufacturers are adjusting to slower growth in new orders."

[AP]

1. The metaphor makes doing nothing sound like doing something.

Girding for slowdown???

They're turning machines off, laying off people, reducing hours, reducing purchasing, and turning over production to overseas factories. How's is that "girding"?

[Double T]

2. No One Is Smiling And No One Is Laughing...............

.........Except These Two Completely Brain Dead Idiots.

[JohnnyRingo]

3. I guess the administration is still waiting for those tax cuts to

"trickle down" and "jump start" the economy and give results that are "through the roof".

I only wish they were "holding their breath"