Global manufacturing downturn eases on U.S. support - PMI

LONDON (Reuters) - The global manufacturing downturn eased last month as North American economies outperformed euro zone countries and much of Asia, a business survey showed on Friday.

JPMorgan's Global Manufacturing PMI, produced with research and supply management organisations, rose to 49.2 in October from September's 48.8, holding below the 50-mark that divides growth from contraction for the fifth month.

The survey showed that new orders fell again in October, pushing firms to cut their workforces for the third time in four months.

Euro zone manufacturing shrank for the 15th month running in October as output and new orders fell, as a downturn that began in periphery members engulfed core countries Germany and France, data showed earlier on Friday.

On Thursday, sister PMI surveys showed big Asian economies are only slowly picking up after a year spent battling against global headwinds and that Britain's factories are facing a deepening decline.

In the United States manufacturing grew in October at its slowest pace in more than three years, its PMI showed, but an Institute for Supply Management survey said growth in manufacturing picked up modestly as new orders improved.

The JPMorgan index combines survey data from countries including the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia.

(Reporting by Jonathan Cable. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/global-manufacturing-downturn-eases-u-support-pmi-154018213--business.html

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