US manufacturing activity continued to cool in July as more factories dialed back production in the face of shrinking orders and rising inventories. The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of factory activity eased to 52.8, the lowest level since June 2020, from 53 a month earlier, according to data released Monday. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, and the latest figure compared with a median projection of 52 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The group’s measure of production also fell to a more than two-year low, and its gauge of new orders remained in contraction territory for a second month. The ... (full story)