Israel: Manufacturing PMI falls in May
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), produced by Bank Hapoalim and the Israeli Purchasing & Logistics Managers Association (IPLMA), fell from 51.9 in April to 50.4 in May, but remained just above the neutral 50-point mark separating contraction from expansion in the manufacturing sector.
The change in the headline figure was driven by a sharp contraction in domestic orders, while export orders continued to fall. The fall in export orders can likely be linked to a more adverse external trading environment, and chimes with soft merchandise trade data in recent months.