Market & Economic | February 24, 2014 Update

The ISM Report on Business for January showed a sharp decline in the manufacturing data, coming in at 51.3 vs. 56.5 for the month prior. The non-manufacturing reading showed a slight increase. The release of the manufacturing data reeled markets, which reacted in fear of a looming slow down. Our intuition told us that this was solely as a direct result of the brutal weather experienced during the month (some saying the worst since 1977). A check of the Markit Global PMI data (below) supports our suspicion, with only Canada showing a logically similar retreat. Eurozone and Asian economies seemed to strengthen during January, as they were not affected by atypical weather. North Pier anticipates that as U.S. temperatures heat up, so will the Purchasing Manager data.

4Q13 Heat Map

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