Surprisingly strong ISM manufacturing

- by New Deal democrat

This morning's unexpectedly strong ISM report appears to put to rest any worry about any imminent economic downturn.

Below is a graph of the New Orders Index, which is one of the 10 elements of the LEI, covering the last 30 years. The red line is drawn at the 60 level. I've subtracted 60 from the index, so that any positive number coincides with a reading above 60, and any negative number coincides with a reading below 60:

This morning's reading of 63.2 is the strongest in over 2 years. Only 28 months in the last 30 years (360 months) have been stronger.