business briefs
Factories grew slowly last month
WASHINGTON (AP) – American factories grew more slowly last month, but U.S. manufacturing remains healthy.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its manufacturing index dipped to 58.7 in October from a 13-year high 60.8 in September. Anything above 50 signals U.S. factories are expanding. Manufacturers are on a 14-month winning streak.
New orders, production, hiring and export orders all grew, though more slowly.
Sixteen of 18 industries reported growth in October, led by paper producers.
Factories are benefiting from stronger growth in the United States and around the world and from a weaker dollar, which makes American products less expensive in foreign markets.
The American economy grew at a solid 3 percent annual pace from July through September. Unemployment is at a 16-year low 4.2 percent. Business investment has expanded robustly in the spring and summer.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the October report showed that U.S. manufacturing is “still very strong and likely to stay that way … Global demand is strong, the dollar is competitive, and domestic spending on capital equipment is rising rapidly.”
Starbucks releases holiday cup
NEW YORK (AP) – It’ll be a (mostly) white Christmas cup for Starbucks this year. The coffee chain’s latest holiday design lets customers color it in themselves.
The company said the cups – which are typically red-themed – will be in stores Wednesday. A cup sleeve to go with the cup will be red.
A plainer red cup from 2015 spurred an outcry from critics upset that it lacked snowflakes, reindeer or specific symbols of Christmas. Even President Donald Trump, who was a candidate at the time, suggested boycotting the chain.
This year the cups feature splashes of red and green amid illustrations of presents, snowflakes and a Christmas tree with star on top. But the black-and white illustration is mainly blank for customers to personalize.
“We hope they’ll color it in to represent what the holidays means to them,” said Leanne Fremar, a creative director at the company.
Starbucks said it started working on the design in January and decided to go with a color-in version because it said many customers liked to draw on them. The Seattle-based chain said most of its nearly 5,000 U.S. locations will have colored pencils available for customers to borrow.
Last year, it released about a dozen holiday cups that were designed by its customers. The holiday cups have been released since 1997.
Construction spending up
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. construction spending increased 0.3 percent in September as the biggest advance in government building activity in four months offset weakness in other areas.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday the September gain followed a tiny 0.1 percent rise in August and declines in June and July.
Despite a slump in homebuilding this year, economists remain optimistic that the low level of unemployment will soon spark a rebound in sales and construction.
The overall economy grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, even though residential construction was down for the second straight quarter.
All of the strength in Wednesday’s report came from a 2.6 percent increase in government construction with state and local activity up 2.5 percent and federal spending up 3.4 percent.
Residential housing showed no increase, while non-residential construction dropped 0.8 percent, its fourth straight monthly decline.
Overall spending was $1.22 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, a gain of 2 percent from a year ago.
In the non-residential area, office construction was down 1.1 percent and the category that includes shopping centers was down 1 percent.