Factories keep growing, but the price pressure grows too
October’s final S&P Global survey shows slower growth alongside the strongest hiring since 2021 and faster selling-price increases.
Factories are still taking orders and adding workers. The less comfortable part of October's manufacturing picture is what they are charging: selling prices rose at the fastest pace since September 2022.
The final S&P Global US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 54.9 in October from 55.9 in September, below the preliminary October reading of 56.0. A reading above 50 signals improving operating conditions, so the slowdown is not a contraction.
Demand holds up, with more friction
Output and new orders both increased, though more slowly than in September. New-order growth was the weakest since March. Export orders edged higher for the first time since June 2025.
Supply did not keep up smoothly. Delivery times lengthened by the most since August 2022, while survey respondents reported higher energy, transport and metals costs as well as tariff pressure. Some customers were placing orders to secure supplies and lock in prices.
That makes the headline harder to read on its own. More orders can reflect healthy demand, but buying ahead of further price rises can also pull activity forward. The survey does not mean every manufacturer is seeing the same conditions.
Hiring strengthens as prices rise
Manufacturing employment grew at its fastest pace since April 2021 as firms responded to rising workloads and backlogs. The combination is important: slower growth in the headline index arrived alongside stronger hiring and more intense price pressure, rather than a simple broad weakening.
S&P Global's chief business economist, Chris Williamson, warned that faster factory-gate price increases could feed through to consumers and add pressure on the Federal Reserve. That is his assessment of the risk, not a new Fed policy decision.
For readers watching the growth-and-inflation balance, the useful takeaway is the split inside the report. Manufacturing continued to expand, but firms were finding it harder to obtain inputs and were passing more of their costs to customers.
