July 2026 ISM Manufacturing PMI came in at 55.6, up from 53.3 in June and the strongest reading since May 2022. It beat the 54.0 consensus. The sector has now expanded for seven straight months after a long stretch of contraction.
Here's a short clip on just 1 of 7 concerns in manufacturing today
Production drove a lot of the gain, jumping to 58.5, its highest level since November 2021. New orders rose to 56.7. Backlogs of orders climbed to 55.0. Employment finally moved into expansion territory at 52.8 after 33 months below 50. Customer inventories stayed too low. Supplier deliveries slowed further. Prices eased a bit to 71.1 but remained elevated. Fifteen of 18 industries reported growth.
The S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI told a flatter story. It held at 53.9, unchanged from June. Output growth slowed to its weakest pace since March. New orders expanded at a slower rate for the third month in a row. Business confidence slipped to its lowest level since October 2025. Export orders stayed soft. Supply-chain delays worsened, partly linked to Middle East disruptions and earlier stock-building.
The two surveys often diverge because of how they treat supplier deliveries and how they weight components. ISM treats slower deliveries as a positive signal of tight conditions. S&P Global does the opposite. Sample and methodology differences add to the gap. Both still show expansion, just with different amplitude.
For the industry, the picture is one of continued growth after a weak period, with production ramping and hiring finally turning. Thin customer inventories and rebuilt backlogs suggest factories still have work to do. At the same time, the softer order growth and falling confidence in the S&P data point to less acceleration ahead. Input costs remain high. Tariffs, energy prices, and geopolitics keep showing up in comments.
Overall, manufacturing is expanding at a solid pace by recent standards. The ISM reading is the strongest in more than four years. The S&P details suggest the gains are not uniform and forward momentum has cooled from the spring.
August data and hard numbers on industrial production and factory orders will show whether the cooler signals stick.
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