United States ISM Manufacturing PMI rises to 54 in May vs. 53 expected

• US ISM Manufacturing PMI improved to 54 in May.
• USD Index stays in positive territory above 99.30.

Business activity in the United States' (US) manufacturing sector expanded at an accelerating pace in May, with the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rising to 54 from 52.7 in April. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 53.

Other details of the PMI report showed that the inflation component, the Prices Paid Index, edged lower to 82.1 from 84.6 in May. Additionally, the Employment Index improved to 48.6 from 46.4.

Assessing the survey's findings, "in May, US manufacturing activity remained in expansion territory, growing at a faster pace compared to the month before," noted Susan Spence, Chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

"Of the five subindexes that make up the PMI, the New Orders index indicated faster growth compared to the previous month, the Supplier Deliveries index stayed the same, the Production Index grew at a faster rate, and the Employment and Inventories indexes remained in contraction, though both improved," Spence added.

Market reaction

The US Dollar (USD) preserves its strength following the release of this report. At the time of press, the USD Index was up 0.43% on the day at 99.36.