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Wednesday, September 2, 2026

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Economy · Wednesday, September 2, 2026

ISM August Manufacturing PMI at 54.6, eighth month of expansion

The File desk · Sep 2, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

Status

Confirmed from the ISM Manufacturing at a Glance PDF for August 2026. This is a private survey release, not a BLS or BEA print.

The Institute for Supply Management’s August 2026 Manufacturing PMI Report, released Sept. 1, 2026, said the Manufacturing PMI registered 54.6 percent, 1.0 percentage point below July’s 55.6. ISM said manufacturing expanded for an eighth consecutive month and that a PMI above 47.5 over time generally indicates expansion of the overall economy (22nd month). New Orders 53.7 (down 3.0 from 56.7); Production 58.3 (down 0.2); Employment 51.2 (down 1.6); Supplier Deliveries 59.3 (up 0.4, slowing/faster); Inventories 50.6 (down 0.6); Prices 71.1 (unchanged); Backlog 51.8 (down 3.2). Chair of the Manufacturing Business Survey Committee: Susan Spence.

ISM’s Manufacturing at a Glance PDF for August 2026 shows the Manufacturing PMI at 54.6 percent, down 1.0 percentage point from July’s 55.6. The report says: “The Manufacturing PMI® registered 54.6 percent. The overall economy continued in expansion for the 22nd month in a row.”

ISM said the manufacturing sector expanded for an eighth consecutive month after a prior 10-month contraction. It writes that a Manufacturing PMI above 47.5 percent over a period of time generally indicates expansion of the overall economy.

Subindexes in the same table: New Orders 53.7 (down 3.0 from 56.7); Production 58.3 (down 0.2); Employment 51.2 (down 1.6); Supplier Deliveries 59.3 (up 0.4, listed as slowing, faster); Inventories 50.6 (down 0.6); Prices 71.1 (unchanged, increasing for a 23rd month); Backlog of Orders 51.8 (down 3.2). The report names Susan Spence, MBA, as chair of the Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

ISM is a private survey of supply executives, not a government statistical agency. The August HTML landing page returned a thin document on this desk’s fetch; the figures come from the PDF.

What is still unknown or disputed

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    ISM Manufacturing PMI Report AUGUST 2026 (Manufacturing at a Glance PDF)

    Institute for Supply Management · September 1, 2026

    Manufacturing PMI registered 54.6 percent, a decrease of 1 percentage point compared to July. Prices Index 71.1 percent, the same reading as July. New Orders 53.7 percent. Production 58.3. Employment 51.2. Supplier Deliveries 59.3. Inventories 50.6. Overall economy expanding for a 22nd month. Manufacturing sector expanding for an eighth month.

    https://www.ismworld.org/globalassets/pub/research-and-surveys/rob/pmi/NoPe202608pmi.pdf

  2. Source 2

    August 2026 ISM Manufacturing PMI Report page

    Institute for Supply Management · September 1, 2026

    Automated fetch of this HTML returned a thin page without the PMI table. Figures in this file come from the Manufacturing at a Glance PDF linked from ISM.

    https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/pmi/august/