California manufacturing projected to increase

Manufacturing in California is expected to pick up in the first quarter of 2012, according to a survey of purchasing managers by Chapman University’s A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research.

The projected increase follows declines in the final two quarters of 2011, according to the forecast, released Tuesday.

The composite index jumped from 54.8 for the fourth quarter of last year to 58.9 for the first quarter of this year.

Most of the rebound can be tied to durable goods industries, such as appliances and furniture, the Chapman report said. Manufacturing of high-tech products was largely flat over the last six months in California.

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