March 2021 Saw United States’ Factory Activity Expand At The Fastest Pace Recorded In Any Month Since December 1983

In the bygone month of March, the United States (US) saw manufacturing expand at the fastest pace in 37 years as per the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) which is a trade group of purchasing managers, reports Economic Times.

ISM's index to measure the factory activity jumped to 64.7 in March, from 60.8 in February. A figure above 50 represents expansion while a figure below 50 represents contraction. The index's measure for March is the highest recorded by ISM since December 1983.

It should be noted though that some of the gains in the factory activity in March may be due to a bounce back from February when harsh winter weather in Texas, Louisiana and other southern states knocked some oil refineries and petrochemical plants offline.

Meanwhile, as per chairman of ISM's manufacturing business survey committee Timothy Fiore, "Extended lead times, wide-scale shortages of critical basic materials, rising commodities prices and difficulties in transporting products are affecting all segments of the manufacturing economy."

It should be noted that in a bid to support the US's economic recovery, President Joseph Biden had recently passed an economic package amounting to a size of whopping $1.9 trillion.