Workers at the Ford Assembly line at Flat Rock Rear.

The activity of United States factories has failed to gain steam during April after slowing down for five straight months as the demand for automobiles has also softened. This data suggests that the economy of the United States has struggled to find momentum since growth has almost been unnoticeable in the first quarter. Other data which was shown on Friday has pointed out that construction spending has hit its lowest in the last six months during March. This also indicates that the increase in growth during the second quarter could be a disappointment. The Federal Reserve has noticed that this could happen and this is the reason why they have delayed raising interest rates until the last quarter of this year.

The economy has expanded by a slow 0.2% annual pace during the first three months of the year, shut down by bad weather conditions, the strong value of the dollar and a labor dispute which happened at West Coast ports (later resolved), and also by the low prices of oil, which have undercut the production of energy in the U.S. For many the reacceleration in growth will not happened as fast as they hope, and especially for those businesses who expect the lift from the Fed to happen soon.

The institute for supply management stated that its index of activity for national factories was at 51.5 during April, which matches the numbers from March, and these are the lowest numbers since May 2013. The index has declined since November 2014 although economists have predicted that it will rise to 52 in April. A reading which is over 50 indicates that there has been a slight expansion in the manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector has been hit by the value increase of the dollar by 12% against all of the currencies of U.S. main trading partners since June 2014.

Apart from this automotive sales have fell to an annual pace of 16.45 million vehicles during last month from 17.15 million rates during March. However Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co have reported that the sales are stronger than expected in April and there has been a great increase in demand for trucks, sport vehicles and crossover vehicles. This is mainly because the price of oil appears to have made buyers feel like taking a chance and buying larger fuel consuming vehicles.