Canada unemployment keeps rising…

At the same time, US manufacturing activity contracted further in May to the lowest level since November. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) purchasing managers’ index of manufacturing activity fell to 48.5 in May, from 48.7 in April. It was last above 50 in January and February, though that followed 26 consecutive months of contraction.

New orders and backlog of orders indices declined at slower rates than in April, though new export orders at 40.1 from 43.1 in April were lows only seen in the 2008-09 and 2020 recessions. Excluding the pandemic period, new export orders were at their lowest reading since 2009.

The downturn in Canada’s manufacturing economy continued in May (below since 2011) with output and new orders both lower, while manufacturing employment decreased at the fastest rate in nearly five years.