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Registering 59.8 for October, the Gardner Business Index (GBI): Composites Fabricating set an all-time high during the month. This latest reading raised the 2017 average for the Index to 55.1 for the year to date. October’s reading was well above the third quarter average reading of 54.6. For the year-to-date and 12-month periods, the Index is up approximately 10% and a sizable 18.5%, respectively. The Gardner Intelligence review of the underlying data for the month indicates that the New Orders, Production, Employment, and Supplier Deliveries subindices lifted the overall Composites Fabricating Index higher while Backlogs and Exports subindices tended to hold the Index down. No components of the Index, however, showed contraction (a reading of <50.0) during the month as even Exports posted its strongest expansionary reading of the year.  

The numbers for New Orders and Production both increased significantly during October. The growth in New Orders outpaced Production, which resulted in a significant and, consequentially, record-breaking reading in the Backlogs measure.