US manufacturing activity falls to 11-year low amid COVID-19 fallout

Economic activity in the US manufacturing sector plunged to an 11-year low in April amid mounting COVID-19 fallout and weak global energy markets, the Institute for Supply Management reported on Friday.

The Purchasing Managers' Index fell by 7.6 percentage points to 41.5 percent in April, the lowest since April 2009. Any reading below 50 percent indicates the manufacturing sector is generally contracting.

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, only paper products and food, beverage and tobacco products reported growth, according to the ISM.

"The PMI indicates a level of manufacturing-sector contraction not seen since April 2009, with a strongly negative trajectory," Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM's manufacturing business survey committee, said in a statement.

"The coronavirus pandemic and global energy market weakness continue to impact all manufacturing sectors for the second straight month," Fiore said.

"Our refinery is losing money making gasoline due to the falling demand," said an executive from the industry of petroleum & coal products, according to the ISM.

The manufacturing contraction came after the Commerce Department reported Wednesday that U.S. real gross domestic product in the first quarter contracted at an annual rate of 4.8 percent amid COVID-19 fallout, the biggest quarterly decline since the 2008 financial crisis.