Mexico: Manufacturing data mixed in August
Mexico’s manufacturing sector showed mixed dynamics in August. On the one hand, the seasonally-adjusted manufacturing indicator produced by the Mexican Institute of Financial Executives (IMEF) rose from July’s revised 50.4 points (previously reported: 50.0) to 51.6. As a result, the indicator lies further above the threshold that separates expansion from contraction in the manufacturing sector. According to IMEF, the rise was driven by broad-based improvements seen across the index’s subcomponents, including in output, new orders and employment.
On the other hand, the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) produced by IHS Markit fell to a 10-month low in the same month. The manufacturing PMI came in at 50.7 points in August (July: 52.1), although remained above the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction in the manufacturing sector. Slower growth in new orders and employment drove the fall in the index and the pace of job creation was the weakest recorded since February. That said, businesses remained optimistic in the month, with sentiment ticking up to a four-month high.