The headline number fell to 50.6 from 50.9 in March.
Economists were looking for a reading of 50.7.
Any reading above 50 signals expansion.
Here's a break down of the March and April reports:
| March 2013 |
April 2013 | |
| PMI | 50.9 | 50.6 |
| Output | 52.7 | 52.6 |
| New orders | 52.3 | 51.7 |
| New export orders | 50.9 | 48.6 |
| Backlog of work | 47.1 | 43.6 |
| Inventories of finished goods | 50.2 | 47.7 |
| Purchases quantity | 51.9 | 51.0 |
| Imports | 48.9 | 48.7 |
| Input prices | 50.6 | 40.1 |
| Inventories of raw materials | 47.5 | 47.5 |
| Employment | 49.8 | 49.0 |
|
Supplier delivery times Business Activity Expectation |
51.1 65.5 |
50.8 59.3 |
Earlier this month, we got a preliminary reading of HSBC's unofficial PMI, which unexpectedly fell to 50.5 from 51.6 in March. The final reading of this index will come out tomorrow.