The U.S. economy continues to grow, although there are "pockets of weakness," according to a new economic study by the National Association of Credit Management (NACM). The Credit Manager's Index (CMI) showed manufacturing, services and combined numbers as hovering above the "50" mark, meaning continued economic expansion. But the manufacturing and combined indexes fell from the prior month's levels. Drops in those measures "bode poorly for continued growth," said Dan North, chief economist with Euler Hermes ACI. The results confirm other evidence of a softening economy, he said, including a weak job market, sluggish retail sales, lower inflation, and a housing market "which until recently had been widely described as 'cooling' and might now be better characterized as frigid." The index is based on a survey of some 500 trade credit managers during the last 10 days of the month.

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