The ISM Manufacturing PMI for the US fell for a second straight month to 55.4 in April, while the street was looking for 57.6. It was the lowest reading since July 2020.

There was good news in Prices Paid easing to a read of 84.6 against consensus of 87.4.

·       New orders fell from 53.8 to 53.5

·       Production fell from 54.5 to 53.6

·       Employment fell from 56.3 to 50.9

·       Supplier delivery times rose from 65.4 to 67.2

·       The backlog of orders fell from 60.0 to 56.0

·       Inventories fell from 55.5 to 51.6

Last week saw lots of red flags in the five regional Fed reports, so today’s report wasn’t a total surprise.

Earnings Season

Well 279 members of the S&P 500 have reported earnings results, and beats have been hefty on top and bottom lines, as blended results are  also doing much better than expected.  But it’s been all about the ones that missed and how hard they’ve been slammed.

This is the time when so much bad news has been built into earnings on the docket, they react better to good news. 

Right now, the market is tenuous, and we are going to see how it shakes out.  Buying attempts have been met by selling.