The current conditions component remained in positive territory in December even after giving up a handful of points from November’s reading of 63.3. The move to the current reading of 56.7 was driven by a decline in the share of “better” responses that was directly offset by the increase in the proportion of reported “unchanged” conditions. Although a couple of comments were unambiguously positive or negative, most of the expressed sentiment tended to reflect the muddled conditions of ample demand being dampened by supply challenges. 

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