by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
But delivery times explode due to supply chain turmoil. The charts are brutal.
Business activity and production at US non-manufacturing industries in April collapsed to the lowest level since inception of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index in 1997, from already weak levels in March.
Only one industry, Finance & Insurance, reported an increase in business activity; the remaining 17 industries – ranging from Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation to Utilities – reported a decline in business activity, with some of them essentially shut down in large parts of the US. The ISM Business Activity Index plunged to 26%. A level below 50% means contraction (historic data from YCharts, current data from ISM):