U.S. Factory Sector to Contract This Year

U.S. manufacturers are likely this year to experience their worst year since the global financial crisis and the sharp fall seen at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Oxford Economics lead U.S. economist Oren Klachkin and the firm’s chief U.S. economist Ryan Sweet write in a note. ISM data for March suggest weak manufacturing activity, and weak demand and tighter credit conditions are likely to cause activity to contract in the months ahead, they write. They point out that, “Subsectors for which the business sector is the end customer will struggle the most since that’s the area of the economy we think is most vulnerable…