SUGAR LAND--September 6, 2012--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--If three data points make a trend, U.S. manufacturers are in a negative trend, with scant reason for optimism in the near term. Manufacturing has been one of the few sectors of the economy that has grown meaningfully since the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. But the latest monthly report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) (Tempe, Arizona) shows a contracting manufacturing sector as purchasing managers respond to a still anemic U.S. economy and a slowdown of overseas demand.