Though they seemingly skirt over the broad truth that American businesses manufacture more than ever with less in the way of labor inputs than ever (the definition of productivity), they note that in 1950 manufacturing employed 31% of all Americans while comprising 27% of GDP.

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At the same meeting, Chairman Ben Bernanke noted that housing was "very weak" and manufacturing was slowing but sounded an optimistic note.

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Barclays economist Vladimir Pantyushin writes from Moscow in a note to clients that the improvement has been entirely a product of manufacturing sectors up 7.1% yoy versus 5.0% in May.

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Bernstein analysts Tim Anderson and Ronny Gal are out this morning with a note to investors suggesting that generic Lipitor could be delayed because of manufacturing problems at Ranbaxy, the first generic drug maker to file with the Food and Drug Administration and the company with whom Pfizer settled.

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In a note to investors Friday, Goldman Sachs analyst James Covello said AMD will outsource much of its capital-intensive manufacturing, giving Intel an edge that AMD won't be able to easily challenge.

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