ECONOMY

Nation’s Manufacturing Growth Surges: The managers who do the buying for the nation’s factories reported the healthiest manufacturing growth in 5 1/2 years in January, but their monthly assessment carried a troublesome warning of higher inflation. The National Assn. of Purchasing Management’s monthly survey on the economy was unexpectedly strong and bolstered other evidence that the economic expansion in the final three months of 1993 carried over into 1994. The survey also indicates higher price increases filtering down to consumers in coming months, perhaps heralding an end to the tame inflation that has characterized the recovery from the 1990-91 recession.