The GBI for October was 48.3, signaling a fourth month of mildly contracting business activity across the U.S. manufacturing sector. However, total new orders – which predominately consist of domestic orders – continue to do well. Based on a three-month moving average, the best performing end-market as of October was aerospace, an industry which has been consistently and strongly expanding since 2016. It was followed by medical equipment manufacturing which has seen its business activity levels expand significantly during the third-quarter of 2019. Conversely, the market for construction machinery continued to experience the fastest rate of contracting business activity among the 24 end markets Gardner monitors. This decline has been mirrored by a similarly enduring contraction in the industrial motors market.
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