Survey evidence on Monday pointed to a third straight month of growth for US industry, offering hope the world's largest economy could yet again pull its trading partners out of trouble.
The help is sorely needed, with manufacturing surveys showing the euro zone barely bottoming out in January while output in Japan and the UK shrank.
"The evidence suggests the US manufacturing sector took a turn for the better late last year and in the first month of this year," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.
"This number is one of the more positive readings we've gotten on the sector in well over a year."
The Institute for Supply Management's index of US manufacturing activity came in at 53.9 in January, just above market forecasts of 53.7. That was slightly slower than December's brisk 55.2 but still the third month above the 50.0 barrier that separates expansion from contraction.
There were signs the improvement might be sustained, with both domestic and export orders rising, the latter perhaps suggesting the weakness of the dollar was making US goods more attractive abroad.
There was also good news for the country's trading partners, with the ISM's reading of import demand leaping 4.2 points to 59.0 in January, its highest reading in more than a decade.
The United States already sucks in far more imports of goods than it exports abroad, a trend that caused the country's trade deficit yawn to a record $40 billion in November, providing a plump cushion to global growth.
The insatiable appetite of US consumers appeared to be one reason orders improved in the latest survey of euro zone manufacturing.
The Reuters Eurozone Purchasing Managers' Index, based on a a survey of 2,500 companies, rose to 49.3 in January from 48.4 in December. The new orders index jumped to 51.0 in January, its highest since last August, as companies reported growing demand at home and abroad.
"All the major (euro zone) economies look like they're improving, helped by a resumption of orders," said Ken Wattret at BNP Paribas in London. "Perhaps we're beginning to see the first signs that the manufacturing sector has bottomed out.
"The problem is, geopolitical concerns may get in the way of a further recovery in the next few months," he added, a caveat all economists these days add to predictions of the future.
In Japan, a companion survey showed the weak global economy taking a toll on manufacturers' exports, with the sector shrinking and new orders sliding for the fifth straight month.
Manufacturers also reported that orders were falling again in Britain, with the main PMI index declining to a one-year low at 48.6. The UK has been one of the best performers of the major economies during the past two years of bumpy growth and growing geopolitical unease.
The risk of war with Iraq looms large as a threat to recovery going forward, though in the short-term it seemed also to be providing a one-time lift to industry in the euro zone.
Manufacturers in the region's biggest and weakest economy, Germany, found a boost from war-related orders, according to NTC Research, which compiles the European and Japanese surveys for Reuters.
"Helping to boost (German) export demand was sales of intermediate goods - inputs to other manufacturing companies - attributed in part to the building of safety stocks by foreign manufacturers to protect against price rises and supply shortages in the event of a war with Iraq," NTC said.
A Reuters poll of 20 defense experts last week found the United States is highly likely to lead an invasion of Iraq in the next two months, with little chance of President Saddam Hussein quitting peacefully or through an internal coup.
The urge to stock up even outweighed the impact of a higher euro, though that could weigh in the future.
"Although the underlying conditions would probably suggest a moderate upswing in (euro zone) manufacturing, two major uncertainties are still looming: first of all, geopolitical risk out of the Middle East and secondly the euro's appreciation," said Lorenzo Codogno at Bank of America in London.