At 35.8, the UK PMI number came in slightly higher than expected. The weakness reflects the wave of redundancies and the global decline in demand that is hammering UK manufacturers.
The bad news is that means that manufacturing output is still contracting. The good news is that it isn't contracting as fast as it was at the end of 2008.
The hopeful news is that January's number captures the state of the sector before the latest round of measures to kick-start credit markets and boost the flagging auto industry have taken full effect.
The question most businesses are asking is how effective the recent set of proposals will be at boosting activity in the coming months...