The latest two sets of manufacturing indicators show that US factories are still in a slowdown mode in August, exacerbating concerns about the direction of the economy. On Tuesday morning (September 3), data released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed that the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing in August recorded 47.2, up 0.4 points from 46.8 in July, but still lower than the market's original expectation of 47.5.