That's not a typo
- Lowest reading in survey history (since 2004)
- Output -35.3 vs +16.4 prior
- New orders -41.3 (lowest since great recession)
- Capex -34.3 vs +6.9 prior
- Employment -23.0
- Full report including comments
-70! I've never seen that in a PMI. What an absolute cratering.
The special questions were all about the virus impact and one interesting question was about employment. Among those who cited negative impacts on employment, 69% said it was temporary but a wearisomely-high 30.9% said it was permanent.
This is also a decent benchmark for what people are expecting in terms of duration:
Here is a comment in the survey from a machinery manufacturer.
