Following a six-month run of readings suggesting expansionary conditions, the current conditions component pulled back in April, dipping to 46.7 points. Boosted by a higher proportion of respondents who reported “better” conditions, the gauge of current conditions bounced back to reach the threshold score of 50, a result that suggested conditions remained essentially unchanged from the previous month’s. Except for a three-month period of relatively robust readings near the start of the year, the current conditions barometer has mostly hovered in a region suggesting slow to flat growth for the last 12 months. Comments pointed to modest improvement in conditions mixed with the observation that “order rates have softened in the near term.”

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