JHMI News and Press, John Hancock Multifactor Industrials From 04/05/22

Production and demand growth was subdued by a combination of headwinds, including the Ukraine war and new COVID-19 related disruptions - notably in China. In Europe, the Ukraine war took a toll on production growth, most prominently leading to renewed falls in output in Poland and the...

The surge in inflation is pushing not only the cost of everything higher but also financing costs with higher interest rates. The higher inflation rates run, the more the consumer gets squeezed and is forced to reduce discretionary spending. The last two years have been volatile a...

US manufacturing growth accelerated in March as robust demand and improving prospects countered the headwinds of soaring cost pressures and the Russia-Ukraine war. Inflows of new business also grew at the strongest rate for six months as customers looked to the further reopening of th...

The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 57.1 in March, off 1.5 points from 58.6 percent in February (50 is neutral). The survey results indicate that the manufacturing sector continues to expand but price pressures worsened....

The latest Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index fell by more than expected, dropping 5.3 points to 8.7. While lower, that is still several points above December and January levels. In spite of the decline at the headline level, overall breadth was actually largely positive, with the number ...

The blowback from the war in Ukraine has only just started to rock the global economy, but the early clues for the US remain encouraging. An added factor of uncertainty, some economists advise, is changes in the forces of growth and contraction. So far, however, there are reasons ...

The latest index came in at 37, up from 29 last month and a record high, indicating steady continued expansion in March. The future outlook rose to 41. Future factory indexes rose to 41. For further details see: Kansas City Fed Survey: Record Growth In March

The latest release of the Richmond Fed’s index saw the composite reading rise by 12 points to 13 rather than the modest single-point increase that was expected. The one-month swing in the composite index was on the large side relative to the report’s history. Given t...

The Russia-Ukraine war will further exacerbate supply chain problems affecting commodity prices as well as energy-dependent and related industries. Delivery times and input price growth eased, but material and labor shortages are at the historical highs in the EU in industry, construc...

Total industrial capacity utilization increased 0.3 points to 77.6% from 76.3% in January, the highest since March 2019. Manufacturing output – about 74% of total output – posted a more robust 1.2% increase for the month. All other industries combined (total excludin...