April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Manufacturing in the United States contracted less than forecast in March, benefiting from growing exports and easing concern slower consumer spending and business investment would cause production to plummet.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index increased to 48.6 from 48.3 in February. Fifty is the dividing line between contraction and expansion.
The reports signals demand from overseas is sustaining manufacturing at a time when consumer spending and businesses investment are stagnating. While not enough to single-handedly maintain growth, exports may help keep factories from slowing even more.
``The demand from overseas has remained pretty strong and manufacturers will still enjoy some of the benefits from that,'' Julia Coronado, a senior economist at Barclays Capital in New York, said before the report. Even so, ``the manufacturing sector is soft right now and we think that is going to persist for a few more months.''
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