U.S. factory activity eases as COVID-19 rages on

January had seen manufacturing activity in the United States drop mildly. Meanwhile, a gauge of prices paid by factories for raw materials and other inputs advanced to its strongest level in nearly a decade. This greatly indicates that the country’s inflation will grow this year.

The Institute for Supply Management’s index of national factory activity rendered a 58.7 reading last month. The figure came lower than the 60.5 reading seen in December, placing below the 60 forecast predicted in a Reuters survey. While there was a contraction, it still stood above the 50 threshold that separates growth from decline.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department revealed that construction spending expanded 1.0% to $1.490 trillion. This came to be the sharpest level of increase the country had seen since the government started data monitoring in 2002.