Summary: ISM purchasing managers index retreats slightly; reading just below consensus expectation; “sharp fall in new orders”; manufacturing “improving” but “far from full recovery”; US economy growing at solid pace. US purchasing managers' index (PMI) readings reached a cyclical peak in September 2017 before they started a downtrend which stabilised in late 2019 after a truce of sorts was made with the Chinese regarding trade. March’s report signalled a...