The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to 52.4 in February from 54.1 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s data showed today. Fifty is the dividing line between growth and contraction, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected the gauge would climb to 54.5. Estimates of the 79 economists ranged from 52 to 56. Elsewhere, euro-area manufacturing shrank for a seventh month. A factory gauge based on a survey of purchasing managers in the 17-nation region increased to 49 in February from 48.8 a month earlier, below a reading of 50 that divides expansion from contraction, ... (full story)