The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose a full point in October to 55.5, topping Wall Street forecasts of 54.7 and marking the tenth straight month the sector has registered expansion, according to the ISM’s latest report.
The release coincided with a new report from the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, headed by Peter Navarro, which frames the data as evidence of a broader manufacturing comeback. Navarro’s office published the report and an accompanying video the same day the ISM figures came out.
All five components that feed into the ISM headline number are now in expansion territory. New orders came in at 55.5, production jumped to 59.0, factory employment held at 52.4, and inventories rose to 51.4. Export orders also increased, registering 51.2.
Navarro’s report points to roughly 250 new factories currently under construction, representing more than $166 billion in investment. Another 270 or so projects, worth an estimated $220 billion, are in planning stages to expand, modernize or reopen existing plants, per the White House office’s figures.
Those building projects carry secondary effects beyond the eventual manufacturing payrolls, including demand for construction trades such as electricians, plumbers and glaziers, as well as specialized work certifying facilities like clean rooms.
For comparison, ISM data showed manufacturing activity in contraction through most of 2023 and 2024, a period during which the sector lost ground and supply chains remained largely offshore.
The White House report and the ISM’s full manufacturing report are both publicly available for review.
It’s worth noting that the Navarro report originates from within the Trump administration itself, and its framing of the data as a deliberate policy achievement is the administration’s own characterization rather than an independent assessment. The underlying ISM numbers, however, come from the Institute for Supply Management’s standard monthly survey methodology.
