Moldmaking Index Continues to Hover Just Below 50

Moldmaking Index

The Gardner Business Index (GBI) measures the current state of moldmaking activity through survey responses covering new orders, production, backlog, employment, exports and supplier deliveries. A reading above 50 indicates expansion; below 50 indicates contraction.

The Moldmaking Index lost 1.2 points to land at 48.5 in September.

The Moldmaking Index dropped 1.2 points for a September reading of 48.5. The Index has been hovering within two points of 50 for the last five months now, but cannot get over the mark and into expansion territory. The components are a mixed bag of results with half the components improving and half declining from last month. In better news, all components are ahead of their positions from September 2024. The Future Business Index continues to provide optimism, rising again to 65.4.

Components Scorecard

The GBI Components Scorecard reports the monthly change rate of primary moldmaking market factors contributing to the overall monthly index reading.

Three-month averages for all components beat year-ago results, and half of the components declined from last month.

Reading the Scorecard: Color indicates where a component value falls relative to 50 for the current month. Green indicates expansion; red indicates contraction.

Shade indicates a value's distance from 50; the darker the shade, the further from 50.

Direction indicates a value's change versus the previous period. Pointing up is always better.

Future Business Index

The GBI Future Business Index is an indicator of the future state of the moldmaking market from industry respondents regarding their opinion of future business conditions for the next 12 months. Over 50 is expansion and under 50 is contraction.