Economy

ISM Report on Business: NMI Service Sector Index Highest Since October 2015

A service sector employee sits at his desk. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Non-Manufacturing Index (NMI), a closely-watched gauge of service sector growth by the Institute for Supply Management, posted the highest reading since October 2015. The NMI came in at 57.6%, which is 1.1% higher than the 56% reading in January and representative of continued growth in the non-manufacturing sector only at a faster rate.

The 16 non-manufacturing industries reporting growth in February — listed in order — are: Utilities; Mining; Management of Companies & Support Services; Other Services; Accommodation & Food Services; Health Care & Social Assistance; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Finance & Insurance; Public Administration; Educational Services; Wholesale Trade; Arts, Entertainment & Recreation; Retail Trade; Transportation & Warehousing; and Construction. The two industries reporting contraction in February are: Real Estate, Rental & Leasing; and Information.

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ISM^® NON-MANUFACTURING SURVEY RESULTS AT A GLANCE COMPARISON OF ISM^® NON-MANUFACTURING AND ISM^® MANUFACTURING SURVEYS* FEBRUARY 2017
	Non-Manufacturing						Manufacturing
Index	Series Index Feb	Series Index Jan	Percent Point Change	Direction	Rate of Change	Trend** (Months)	Series Index Feb	Series Index Jan	Percent Point Change
NMI^®/PMI^®	57.6	56.5	+1.1	Growing	Faster	86	57.7	56.0	+1.7
Business Activity/Production	63.6	60.3	+3.3	Growing	Faster	91	62.9	61.4	+1.5
New Orders	61.2	58.6	+2.6	Growing	Faster	91	65.1	60.4	+4.7
Employment	55.2	54.7	+0.5	Growing	Faster	36	54.2	56.1	-1.9
Supplier Deliveries	50.5	52.5	-2.0	Slowing	Slower	14	54.8	53.6	+1.2
Inventories	52.0	48.0	+4.0	Growing	From Contracting	1	51.5	48.5	+3.0
Prices	57.7	59.0	-1.3	Increasing	Slower	11	68.0	69.0	-1.0
Backlog of Orders	54.0	50.0	+4.0	Growing	From Unchanged	1	57.0	49.5	+7.5
New Export Orders	57.0	48.0	+9.0	Growing	From Contracting	1	55.0	54.5	+0.5
Imports	51.0	54.0	-3.0	Growing	Slower	2	54.0	50.0	+4.0
Inventory Sentiment	64.5	62.0	+2.5	Too High	Faster	237	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers’ Inventories	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	47.5	48.5	-1.0
Overall Economy				Growing	Faster	91
Non-Manufacturing Sector				Growing	Faster	86

* Non-Manufacturing ISM^® Report On Business^® data is seasonally adjusted for Business Activity, New Orders, Prices and Employment Indexes. Manufacturing ISM^® Report On Business^® data is seasonally adjusted for New Orders, Production, Employment and Supplier Deliveries.

** Number of months moving in current direction.

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PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.