US factory output at three-year low

US manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in three years, further denting confidence in a global economy that is already feeling the effects of the eurozone debt crisis and China’s economic slowdown.

In a shock to economists who were expecting manufacturing growth to slow moderately, the Institute for Supply Management’s survey on the US industrial sector reported a large decline in activity from 53.5 in May to 49.7 in June – its lowest level since the recession ended in mid-2009.....