As it is in the Eurozone, the 'tale of two cities' remains the case in the US/Housing sales

On manufacturing, S&P Global said “All five components of the PMI weakened in August. Increased rates of decline for new orders and inventories were accompanied by the first fall in factory production for seven months. Employment growth meanwhile slowed to near-stagnation. Suppliers’ delivery times also shortened to the greatest extent since February, in a sign of suppliers being less busy amid weaker demand for raw materials: input buying by factories fell at the sharpest rate for 8 months.” Of note too, “inventories of finished goods rose markedly for the 3^rd time in the past 4 months, the recent accumulation of unfinished inventory having been amongst the largest recorded in the history of the survey, often reflecting weaker than expected sales.”

On pricing, “the rate of input cost inflation accelerated in manufacturing to the highest since May.” The rate of output charges though held unchanged m/o/m, remaining at a 4 month high. Covering both manufacturing and services, “Firms cited higher staff costs as a key cause of raised prices alongside higher raw material prices and increased shipping rates.”

With services, “payroll numbers fell amid hiring difficulties.” New orders rose and the future outlook did as well. On output price inflation, “Selling price inflation meanwhile cooled in the service sector to the 2^nd lowest since May 2020 to a level only marginally above the pre-pandemic average.”