Published
Finishing Activity Ended April Down 1.3 Points vs. March
Finishing Activity: The April Index signaled contraction, closing at 49.0 compared to March’s 50.3.
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The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing contracted again in April, which had been the case every month from September 2022 through January 2023.
- The April Gardner Business Index: Finishing presents with more consistency between directions of the overall index and components (reported as 3-month moving averages). The nature of movement is not in desired directions; however, i.e., contraction is faster, expansion is slower, or indices are flat vs. March.
- Specifically, new orders contracted at a faster rate while backlog and exports, both more contracted than new orders, maintained their March rates into April.
- Backlog contracted again at about the same rate in April, remaining at a distance from expansion.
- In expansion territory, production expanded at a bit slower rate while employment maintained its same growth rate into April.
- Supplier deliveries continued to lengthen in April, but for the first time in a long time, the pace picked up. It is too early to know whether that uptick is real and what is driving it.
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing
Finishing’s index contracted again in April.
Key Component Activity
Most components, both contracting and expanding, took downturns or stayed the same in April.
