Purchasing Index Falls To Recessionary Level: Other Barometers Show Stagnant Economy
A closely watched barometer ot U.S. industry returned to recession territory in December, and one-third of top business executives said in a separate survey released yesterday that they were preparing for more layoffs in the new year.</br></br>Nor was there much good cheer on the building front as the government said that construction spending took a turn for the worse after four months of improvement. And sales of North American-made cars and light trucks fell a slim 0.6 percent in mid-December over a miserable period the year before, figures indicated yesterday.</br></br>Analysts said the reports were further evidence of a deeply troubled economy that is unlikely to show any life until spring.</br></br>ÛÏWe ended 1991 ... with virtually everything in a declining mode,Û said Bruce Steinberg, an economist with Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. ÛÏThe new year is beginning with the economy still flat on its back."</br></br>Most troubling to economists was a report from the National Association of Purchasing Management showing that its monthly index of industrial activity fell 3.6 percentage points last month, to 46.5 percent It marked the third straight monthly decline and the first time the index has dipped below 50 percent since June. Any reading below 50 percent is considered a sign of recession for the nationÛªs manufacturers.