NACM’s Credit Managers’ Index (CMI) for October signals continued stability with its 0.1-point drop from last month.“The fact that the CMI this month is nearly identical to the CMI last month is welcome,” said NACM Economist Chris Kuehl, Ph.D. “Given the fact that credit managers tend to think more about the future than what is happening right now this outbreak of stability may be pointing to a more predictable end of the year.”
The combined index of favorable factors improved with a 1.7-point gain to 67.7 this month. Both sales numbers and dollar collection improved by 2.3 points. Of the four categories comprising the index, amount of credit extended improved the most with a 2.5-point jump to 70.0 — the first time this category has reached the 70’s.
“Many companies are buying more heavily and aggressively than they usually do as they are trying to beat inflation and they are concerned about the supply chain,” Kuehl noted.
However, the combined unfavorable score dropped to 51.5 — its lowest reading in the last year. Rejections of credit applications remained unchanged at 52.1 while the disputes category dropped 2.8 points (48.5) into the contraction zone. The dollar amount of customer deductions fell into contraction territory (49.5) also slipping by 2.8 points.
For a complete breakdown of the manufacturing and service sector data and graphics, view the September 2021 report at https://nacm.org/download-cmi.html. CMI archives may also be viewed on NACM’s website at https://nacm.org/cmi/cmi-archive.
This article first appeared in eNews. It is used with permission.