Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in December for the second straight month, but the overall economy grew for the 79th consecutive month, according to the December Institute for Supply Management Report on Business.

The dip in manufacturing activity came along with a drop in the PMI. Bradley J. Holcomb, chair of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey committee, reported that the PMI registered at 48.2% in December, a 0.4 percentage point decrease from November and an even more precipitous fall from the 50.1% registered in October, which was the last month in a 34-month streak of expansion in the manufacturing sector.

It was not all bad news in December as the new orders and production indexes both increased in comparison to November. The new orders index read at 49.2%, an increase of 0.3 percentage points and the production index came in at 49.8%, marking a 0.6 percentage point increase month-over-month.

The employment index took a sizable hit, falling 3.2 percentage points to 48.1%. A reading below 50 in each index indicates contraction.