Manufacturing sector contracted in September

NEW YORK — A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity contracted more than expected in September, as new orders slowed dramatically. The reading of 43.5 from the Institute for Supply Management was down from August’s 49.9. It also was worse than economists’ prediction of 49.5, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. For the full story visit www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-econ2-2008oct02,0,1010433.story