According to the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Monday Economic Report for this week, manufacturing closed out 2024 in contraction. Manufacturing activity including inventories, employment, backlog of orders, supplier deliveries, and raw materials inventories remained in contraction in December. The ISM Index for manufacturing has been in contraction for the last two years, as consumer demand softened. 

The Pending Home Sales (PHS) Index, a leading indicator of housing activity, increased in November by 2.2%, according to the National Association of Realtors. There were increases in the Midwest, South, and West regions and a decrease only in the Northeast.  The increase potentially signals a decrease in consumer reluctance over mortgage rates and an increase in available inventory.