U.S. PMI Manufacturing Index Slightly Rose to 51.6%

Today the U.S. Manufacturing ISM report was published and the U.S. Manufacturing
PMI reached 51.6% during September. The U.S. Manufacturing PMI, which is an
index that shows the economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector, grew
for the 26th consecutive month; the growth rate inclined from 50.6% in August to
51.6% in September i.e. a one percent points incline. This means that not only
the U.S. manufacturing sector is growing but also, it grows at a faster pace in
September compared to August. Among the factors that were examined in this
survey: the sharpest increase was in exports from 50.5% to 53.5% an increase of
3.0 percent point; production also rose by 2.6 percent points; on the other
hand, among the factors that contracted were backlog of orders – a drop of 4.5
percent point and inventories – a decrease of 0.3 percent point. According to
Roache et. al (2008) it was suggested that the PMI Manufacturing ISM report has
a negative correlation with gold and silver prices, when not controlling for the
US dollar effect. Currently, it seems that this news doesnt have much of an
effect on gold and silver prices as they are traded up because