MarketPR
S&P's manufacturing index for June came in above expectations, but the headline masked one of the more alarming labor readings in recent memory: factory job cuts running at a pace that approached levels last seen during the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The above-forecast index result was driven largely by an inventory rebuild — not by hiring.
A Manufacturing Beat Built on Restocking, Not Rehiring The composition of June's better-than-expected result tells a different story than the headline number.
S&P attributed the month's index improvement primarily to an inventory rebuild — manufacturers replenishing stock — rather than to demand-led output expansion. That distinction matters in how the data gets read.
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