Shafaqna English– In July, U.S. factory activity surged to its strongest reading in over four years, propelled by a robust expansion in new orders, which in turn drove up hiring in the manufacturing sector – although ongoing hostilities in the Middle East continued to disrupt supply networks and kept raw material prices persistently high.
However, the survey from the Institute for Supply Management, released on Monday, revealed that the majority of responses were pessimistic, with the U.S.-Israeli conflict against Iran emerging as the dominant topic in the comments. Frequent mentions of price fluctuations were also widespread, reinforcing the view among certain economists that the Federal Reserve is likely to hike rates as early as the coming month.