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February closed with a Gardner Business Index: Metalworking reading of 60.6, indicating that the Metalworking Index this month closely mirrored that of January. Increased activity in readings for New Orders, Production, and Backlogs contributed to the month’s overall gain.

Gardner Business Index: Metalworking for February 2022

Images courtesy of Gardner Intelligence.

Supplier Deliveries and Employment Readings

Lengthened supplier deliveries at a slowing rate also continued into January. This trend would be concerning under typical business conditions, but instead it indicates a relief from some out-of-the-ordinary dynamics at play on GBI today. Employment activity showed expansion at a slowing rate for the second month in a row while Export activity contracted a bit faster in February.

Metalworking Production and New Orders

Based on a three month moving average.

Longer-term trends within GBI: Metalworking show the Production Index that dipped in October has since been on a path that converged with New Orders in January and held into February. These two indices typically trend similarly in ‘normal’ conditions, however, convergence in current conditions suggests adoption of creative solutions to boost production since employment and supply chain conditions remained anything but helpful.