00:00What do you make of this? The first in a slew of data that we're going to get. We're finally back to data that is reasonably up to date. And unfortunately, this is unhappy new year. This is December. The ISM manufacturing folks reporting that the index falls to 47.9 from 48.2. That is definitely not good news. Prices paid holds at 58.5. So no change on the inflation front. But production falls to 51 from 51.4. New orders are about the same.
00:2947.7 from 47.4, but still well below 50. And we're looking at things like inventories falling 45.2 from 48.9. So overall, this is a disappointing report. Now, the one thing that we do want to do, and I'm going to have to check my email for the actual numbers from the ISM, is you want to look at what the companies are saying about it.
00:56Because we've seen in the regional numbers that have come out that companies have been saying that we are still facing problems with uncertainty about what's going to happen with the overall economy.
01:13I feel like, Mike, isn't it fair to say that we always have a certain amount of uncertainty? I've been doing this job for 26 years now.
01:20Yeah, but OK, it's worse. And the one mantra that has continued unabated is uncertainty.
01:26Yeah, but I mean, how often have you lived through periods where you've just gotten months of no official U.S. data?
01:31And we've still got uncertainty going forward because we don't know if the tariffs are going to be ruled legal or not and what happens from here with Venezuela, et cetera.
01:38Here's an easy, simple quote from a company in here in the machinery business.
01:44Trough conditions continue. Depressed business activity, some seasonal but largely impacted by customer issues due to interest rates, tariffs, low oil commodity pricing and limited housing starts.
01:56So if that's summing up the way American manufacturers feel, it doesn't suggest that we're going to see any kind of major turnaround in the factory sector anytime soon.
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