“Overall, it was fun while it lasted – the trends had been up and now they aren’t,” warns National Asscociation of Credit Managers' economist Chris Kuehl.
This sentiment comes as NACM's Credit Manager Index plummetes to its lowest since 2009…
The score reflects the deterioration in the combined favorable categories reading (56.4). In July, it was as high as it was in March (60.0). The categories in the favorable sector were lower than they had been last month, and some by quite a lot. The index of combined unfavorable factors also dropped (49.2 to 49.1), but not as dramatically. “The best that can be said about the decline is that it was bad and hasn’t gotten much worse,” Kuehl added.
When looking at specifics in the favorable categories, there was not much to celebrate and some of these sectors are worrying. The sales category was riding a high at 60.0 last month and dropped to 53.7, marking the lowest point in seven years.
“The sales collapse is consistent with what has been appearing in the Purchasing Managers’ Index and other statistics, so it is unlikely to be an anomaly, not good timing as far as the retail community is concerned,” explained Kuehl.
And finally, favorable and unfavorable aggregate indices have plunged…
We leave to Kuehl to sum up: “the most vexing part of the change is that it is happening at the start of the season that many in the economy count on for growth.”
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