NACM’s Credit Managers’ Index (CMI), which will be unveiled Friday morning, is expected to show slight improvement from November to December, but ultimately fell short of making any impactful change.
“It is not quite a gift of the holiday season, but the latest numbers are a little better than last month,” said NACM Economist Chris Kuehl, Ph.D. “The bulk of the change seems to be due to the retail sector and its response to the consumer this time of year.”
The manufacturing sector took a harder hit, with the subcategories of sales and amount of credit extended expected to show dramatic declines. The index of unfavorable factors should show slight improvement, but still remain in the contraction zone. The service sector, however, has appeared to be on the rebound with positive activity occurring in the retail and construction industries.
A more in-depth look into December’s CMI will be included tomorrow’s weekly NACM eNews. The full CMI report, which contains detailed manufacturing and service sector data, will be available tomorrow at 9 am at www.nacm.org.
