FACTORY ACTIVITY DECLINES: U.S. manufacturing shrank for the second straight month in July. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity ticked up to 49.8, from 49.7 in June. But any reading below 50 indicates contraction.

MORE SLUGGISHNESS: The reading points toward more slow growth but not another recession. The trade group says the index needs to fall below 43 to signal a recession is likely.

Recommended Stories

USS Spruance breaks record for longest deployed destroyer since WWII

Mills strategist calls for Fishback to leave politics over false claims about investigations

Trump visits to safe red districts are a ‘considered strategy’ to fire up low-propensity voters: Byron York