Finance & economics | Factories, floored

A global manufacturing slowdown suggests worse is to come

Recession would be brutal for countries that have still not recovered from covid-19

(220921) -- CHONGQING, Sept. 21, 2022 (Xinhua) -- A worker works at a bamboo winding composite pipe (BWCP) production base of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) in Beibei District of southwest China's Chongqing, Sept. 20, 2022. In January 2021, a BWCP production base of CRCC went into operation in Beibei District of southwest China's Chongqing. The annual capacity of the base is about 9,000 tonnes and the output value is about 200 million yuan (about 28.7 million U.S. dollars). BWCP is a bio-based pipe product with lightweight and high pressure resistance features. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)
|Washington, DC

“Is a global recession imminent?” asks a new report by the World Bank. The answer—that one very well might be—will not be a surprise to manufacturers. In August global manufacturing output shrank relative to the month before, and new orders fell for the second month in a row, according to JPMorgan Chase, a bank. As economic woes mount, worse could be ahead, for factories and the broader economy.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Factories, floored”

Should Europe worry?

From the September 24th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Finance & economics

The federal reserve represented as a slot machine with bitcoin coins at its base.

Will America’s crypto frenzy end in disaster?

Donald Trump’s team is about to bring digital finance into the mainstream

A ping pong game with a container instead of a ball.

Do tariffs raise inflation?

Usually. But the bigger problem is that they harm economic growth and innovation


A Gulfstream G600 from Hampshire Aviation Company lands at Barcelona Airport in Barcelona, Spain.

European governments struggle to stop rich people from fleeing

Exit taxes are popular, and counter-productive


Saba Capital wages war on underperforming British investment trusts

How many will end up in Boaz Weinstein’s sights?

Has Japan truly escaped low inflation?

Its central bankers are increasingly hopeful

How American bankers dodged the MAGA carnage

The masters of the universe have escaped an anti-globalist revolt