2002/3 Annual Results & Turnaround Progress

Manufacturing state side -

Reuters
Factory Data Helps Push Stocks Up
Friday January 2, 12:45 pm ET
By Vivian Chu


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher in a quiet session on Friday, the first trading day of 2004, after a closely watched report showed that U.S. manufacturing grew last month at its fastest rate in 20 years, reassuring investors the long-suffering sector is recovering and helping the economy.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its monthly manufacturing index for December jumped to a 20-year high of 66.2, up from November's 62.8 and easily beating economists' forecasts of a median reading of 61.0.

The ISM report showed continued resurgence in the industrial sector after it was hard hit in the recession that ended, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, in November 2001. New orders, seen as a sign of future growth, rose to their highest level since July 1950.

"Today there's a lot of optimism about the new year. The economic data and corporate profits rolling in are showing positive gains, and the first major economic report of the year hit a level it hasn't seen in a few decades," said Mike Palazzi, a managing director at S.G. Cowen.

After stock indexes racked up substantial gains last year, "we have a combination of optimism and profit-taking, but now the optimism is outweighing the profit-taking."

The ISM report, a national survey of purchasing managers, is by far the most influential report on U.S. manufacturing. An index reading over 50 shows expansion in the sector.

U.S. Treasury bond prices fell sharply on the ISM data, while stocks and the dollar rose.

Regards wan ;-)