The Institute for Supply Management reports on U.S. manufacturing, orders and other activity in July. The ISM, a trade group of purchasing managers, will release its manufacturing index Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern time. ANOTHER GAIN: Economists forecast that the index rose modestly in July to 55.8 to 55.3 in June, according to a survey by FactSet. Any reading higher than 50 signals that manufacturing is expanding. Manufacturing has grown for 13 straight months, but the pace of the expansion slowed in June from 55.4 in May. Growth in production and exports decelerated. Orders rose faster, and factories added jobs at the ... (full story)