Canada’s manufacturing downturn slowed in February. Both output and new orders fell only slightly, and employment rose as firms remained confident in the outlook. That said, there were further cuts to purchasing and inventories. Price trends meanwhile showed an accelerated rate of cost inflation. Output charges rose in response, but at the slowest pace since June 2023. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ IndexTM (PMI®) remained below the crucial 50.0 no-change mark in February. It was the tenth successive month that a deterioration in operating conditions has been ... (full story)