NACM: his month’s combined index of the manufacturing and service sectors, while above 50, declined from 53.5 to52.0, as low as it has been in more than two years. The score reflects the deterioration in the combined favorablecategories reading (56.4). In July, it was as high as it was in March (60.0). The categories in the favorable sectorwere lower than they had been last month, and some by quite a lot. The index of combined unfavorable factorsalso dropped (49.2 to 49.1), but not as dramatically. “The best that can be said about the decline is that it was badand hasn’t gotten much worse,” said NACM Economist Chris Kuehl, Ph.D...
