US manufacturing neared stagnation in October as orders contracted for the fourth time in five months, while an index of prices paid fell to a more than two-year low.

The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of factory activity retreated 0.7 point to 50.2, the lowest since May 2020, according to data released Tuesday. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a drop to 50, the reading that separates expansion and contraction.

The overall manufacturing index has fallen in four of the last five months, and several of the report’s demand metrics showed outright contraction in ...

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