- Fears over the outlook for the US economy intensified
yesterday after a spate of new reports suggested that manufacturing, consumer
spending and employment had all endured their most difficult month for
almost 20 years.
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- The closely watched manufacturing survey by the National
Association of Purchasing Management (NAPM) revealed that US industry was
deteriorating at its fastest pace since May 1980 as new orders dived after
the terrorist attacks.
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- In a report that was far weaker than Wall Street had
expected, NAPM said its headline measure of growth dropped 7.2 points to
39.8 during October, the largest fall in 20 years and the lowest level
of the index since February 1991.
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- NAPM said the drop in the new orders and production components
of the index were among the largest in the survey,s 70-year history. It
added that the terrorist attacks had set back manufacturing by between
six and nine months.
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- The US gloom was compounded by Commerce Department figures
that showed consumer spending fell 1.8 per cent in September, the largest
one-month drop since January 1987.
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- The number of Americans on unemployment benefits was
at an 18-year high of 3.7 million last week. New jobless claims of 499,000
were below expectations.
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- http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,5-2001381508,00.html
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