Chicago PMI Beats But Remains In 'Contraction' For Second Straught Year

There's good news and bad news in today's macro data (what scarce data there is).

MNI's Chicago Business Barometer (PMI) printed a better than expected 43.8 (42.3 exp), up from the prior 40.6...

There's a little more good news as seven of the underlying components rose vs last month:

• Prices paid rose at a faster pace; signaling expansion
• New orders fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
• Employment fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
• Inventories fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
• Supplier deliveries rose at a faster pace; signaling expansion
• Production fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
• Order backlogs fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction

The bad news is, as the chart above shows (normalized for the 50 cut off between expansion and contraction),this was the 23rd straight month below 50 (contraction)and the 37th month of contraction in the last 38 months.