The US manufacturing sentiment index from Markit:

  • Prior was 53.6
  • Last month's reading was worst since Oct 2013

It's a sliver of good news but the index has been slumping since last August, when it hit 57.9.

The US dollar caught a small bid from the data but this isn't exactly the kind of thing that screams about a healthy economy:

"Companies saw output and order book growth regain a little momentum at the start of the third quarter, but the overall pace of expansion was nevertheless the second-weakest seen since the government shutdown of 2013," Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said in a statement. "Manufacturing has been stuck in a lower gear."