Canadian business conditions improve slowly

(Feb. 1, 2012) -- The RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for January indicated that, although conditions in the manufacturing sector continued to improve, the rate of improvement slowed sharply. Also, the U.S. manufacturing sector expanded for the 30th consecutive month in January 2012, and the pace of growth accelerated as indicated by the ISM manufacturing index rising to 54.1 from 53.1 in December 2011.