US manufacturing activity contracted for a second month in December, capping the steepest annual slide in the key factory gauge since 2008 and helping to further tame price pressures. The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of factory activity fell to 48.4 last month, the lowest level since May 2020 and down from 49 in November, according to data released Wednesday. Readings below 50 indicate contraction. The figure was in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The ISM index dropped 10.4 points in 2022, the biggest annual retreat since the Great Recession. The purchasing managers ... (full story)