ISM Manufacturing Index (Jan.)

The small fall in the ISM manufacturing index to 57.6 in January, from 58.8, suggests the Omicron virus wave hasn’t had nearly as big an impact on the factory sector as implied by some of the early regional surveys or the national Markit PMI. That said, the hit to services is likely to be greater and, in any case, we still suspect Omicron will have a notable impact on the hard activity and employment data.