The growth rate turns modest. That's the latest word on the Greater Grand Rapids industrial economy, according to the data collected in the last two weeks of July 2011. New orders, our index of business improvement, edged lower from +23 to +17. In a similar move, the production index eased to +21 from +26. Activity in the purchasing offices, our index of purchases, backtracked to +23 from +29. The only modest uptick this month came from the index of employment, which rose to +37 from +34. |