IAR’S INLAND EMPIRE REPORT ON BUSINESS

 

 

Report for January 2014

Sponsors:
San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency
Riverside County Economic Development Agency

(Editor’s note:  The Inland Empire (I.E.) is a metropolitan area and region of Southern California. It is situated directly east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.)

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PMI CONTINUING TO SHOW SLOW GROWTH

According to Barbara Sirotnik (Director, Institute of Applied Research), and Lori Aldana (Project Coordinator, Institute of Applied Research), “This month’s PMI (51.9) is only a slight decrease from last month’s 53.5, and is the fifth month above the 50% benchmark which indicates a growing manufacturing sector.”

“All components of the PMI registered at or above 50 this month except the Inventory index which showed a decrease from 56.5 to 48.4.  Production was virtually unchanged (56.5 last month and 56.3 this month).  The New Orders Index decreased from 58.1 last month to 51.6 this month indicating that the rate of growth has slowed, however new orders are still coming in.  The volatile Employment Index remained at 50.0 – most companies said the overall level of employment remained the same since last month, but a small group of companies saw increases, and an equal amount saw decreases.  Commodity Prices showed a decrease from 61.3 to 59.4 but remained above 50 for the 19th month, indicating that prices continue to rise.  Supplier Deliveries increased from 46.8 to 53.1 (indicating that deliveries are slowing slightly).”