February PMI Manufacturing below consensus and higher M/M

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• February PMI Manufacturing Index: 57.3 vs consensus of 57.5 from 55.5 in prior month.
• Stronger new sales growth spurred manufacturers to increase staffing numbers and boost stocks of purchases
• Pressure on capacity softened as backlogs rose at the slowest pace in a year as material shortages eased.
• Although input costs increased at the slowest pace for nine months, selling prices ticked higher at the sharpest rate since last November
• Increased new order inflows spurred greater optimism among manufacturing firms in February