Buyers Report Free Fall

U.S. Manufacturers reported a sharp drop in activity for December,according to the Institute for Supply Management's Purchasing Managers Index.The index registered 32.4-down from November's reading of 36.2.A Thomson Reuters survey of economists had predicted a reading of 35.5,and a number below 50 indicates the sector is contracting.Also in the ISM survey,it was noted that new orders fell to an historic low,eclipsing the previous record from 1948,while prices paid slumped below the former record,set in 1949.The December manufacturing result is the lowest since June 1980.At that point,the economy was almost through a recession that lasted six months.Over the past 28 years,the ISM manufacturing index has seldom dipped below 45.The Institute for Supply Management,a buyers' trade group based in Tempe,Arizona,surveys hundreds of firms for its monthly reports,which are considered major events on the economic calendar.