For the fourth month in a row, the US manufacturing sector has inevitably shown signs of growth. Although the progress is at a rather slower pace, the manufacturing sector has definitely shown signs of slight recovery from last year’s recession.

The housing market has also shown signs of improvement despite having overspent on construction in October. The Institute of Supply Management has recently made a report about its national factory activity index. For the month of October, the Institute of Supply Improvement has reported a 53.6 decrease in the index of national factory activity. Reuters has surveyed a number of economists and an average of 70 has predicted an activity index of 55.0 for November. According to these experts, an index of 50 or above indicates an expansion in the manufacturing sector while those that go below 50 indicates contraction.

According to the chairman of the ISM manufacturing business survey in Georgia, Norbert Ore, the Institute of Supply Management has been through four months of weak recovery. According to him, it would take some time before the improvement spreads to 18 manufacturing industries.

However, the report made by the ISM was rather unexpected according to Tom Sowanick, the chief investment officer for the Omnivest Group in New Jersey. He says that although the report was unexpected, the figures were still strong when added to the earlier monthly levels that went above 50. In addition to that, Tom Sowanick has added that the China ISM has also experienced an increase in its index. This, according to him, signifies a global recovery.

On the other hand, the ISM employment index for the manufacturing industry was reported to have decreased from 53.1 in October to 50.8 in November. So far, the change has been the strongest since 1996.