July PMA Shows Business Weakening in Next 3 Months

Metalforming companies are expecting somewhat weaker business conditions during the next three months. The July survey by the Precision Metalforming Association showed only 22 percent of participants are expecting an improvement in conditions (down from 27 percent in June); those expecting no change remained relatively steady in July at 56 percent compared to 55 percent last month. New orders are also expected to decline slightly in the next three months.

Current average daily shipping levels remained the same in July. Short time or layoffs were reported by 13 percent of companies compared to 12 percent in June and 11 percent in July 2015.