US factory activity picked up in October
WASHINGTON — Manufacturing expanded in the United States and China last month, good news for a sputtering global economy.
The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its manufacturing index came in at 51.9, up from 51.5 in September. Anything above 50 signals growth. Ten of 18 manufacturing industries reported growth last month.
Separately across the Pacific, private and official surveys showed Tuesday that China’s factory activity rose in October to the highest level in two years, a sign the world’s second-biggest economy may be stabilizing after years of decelerating growth.
The news “adds fuel to the narrative that global demand is finally heating up after a dismal showing in the first half of the year,” Fotios Raptis, senior economist at TD Economics, wrote in a research report.