Midwest Factory Activity Picks Up in June

An economic yardstick for the manufacturing-heavy U.S. Midwest rose in June but stayed in contraction for the second consecutive month.

The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, climbed to 49.4 in June from 46.2 in May--marking the fourth month this year the index was below 50, the threshold dividing expansion from contraction.

Activity continues to weaken in the second quarter after an already-depressed opening three months of the year, according to the index.

June's rise was paced by big jumps in the new orders and projection subindexes, which rose 8.8% and 8.7%, respectively. But those were the few highlights in the report.

Philip Uglow, chief economist of MNI Indicators, said, "While the latest increase in new orders is a tentative sign of a pickup in demand over the coming months, there is no getting away from the general softness in the data."