Purchasing Managers' Index™(PMI®)
The world’s most market-moving economic indicator
What is PMI? A Clear Explanation of the Purchasing Managers' Index
First, let's address the question: what does PMI stand for? PMI stands for Purchasing Managers' Index—a widely followed economic indicator that gives you a monthly snapshot of how private-sector businesses are performing
Monitor the Health of Global Economies and Anticipate Changing Market Trends
PMI data are factual indicators of global economic health based on monthly surveys of business executives covering 45 economies and 30 sectors. The PMI is widely used to anticipate changing economic and market trends and as a barometer for economic performance and business conditions. 5700 indicators covering national and sector data provide a rounded view of the health of global economies. The PMI features two key components:
- Headline Number: A number between 0 and 100 indicating the overall health of an economy. A PMI reading over 50 represents economic expansion, and below 50 represents contraction compared to the month prior.
- Sub-Indices: 5700 Individual measures of key economic drivers including business output, inflation, exports, capacity utilization, employment, pricing, and inventories, and more.
Key Benefits
1. Stay ahead of the curve. PMI data lands on your desk every month, often before official statistics are even published. That means you can spot economic shifts earlier, react faster, and make smarter calls when markets are still catching up.
2. Trust what you're seeing. PMI isn't based on opinions or gut feelings. It's built from real surveys of purchasing managers reporting actual changes in orders, output, and hiring. You get hard numbers you can stand behind, not just sentiment.
3. Compare apples to apples anywhere in the world. Whether you're tracking manufacturing in Germany or services in India, PMI uses the same proven methodology across 45 economies and 30 sectors. That consistency makes cross-border and cross-industry analysis straightforward and reliable.
4. Dig into the details that matter. The headline PMI number is just the start. Beneath it, you'll find 5,700 sub-indicators covering everything from pricing pressures and export demand to employment trends and inventory levels, giving you the granular insights you need for portfolio decisions, sector benchmarks, and inflation forecasts.
5. Build on a foundation that doesn't shift. PMI data is published monthly like clockwork and never revised. That stability is gold for analysts and decision-makers who rely on clean historical data for modeling, back-testing, and reporting, no surprises, no do-overs.
Timely Early Signals
Released monthly, in advance of comparable official economic data
No Revisions
Unlike many official economic indicators, data are not revised after publication
Factual and Quantitative
Compiled from survey questions tracking actual changes in business volumes such as output, not sentiment-based questions
Comparable
Compiled using proven standardized methodology
Why PMI® Matters for Economic Analysis?
PMI is important because it's released monthly, often weeks before official government statistics like GDP. That makes it one of the most timely, high-frequency tools available for:
- GDP nowcasting (estimating current-quarter growth in real time)
- Identifying turning points in the business cycle (recession warnings or recovery signals)
- Tracking supply chain conditions (delivery times, bottlenecks, capacity pressures)
- Monitoring inflation pressures through input and output price trends
Because of this, investors, policymakers, and businesses rely on PMI data to inform market strategy, monetary policy decisions, and corporate forecasting. It's a leading indicator that helps you see what's coming—before the official numbers confirm it.
PMI® Enables You To
Track and monitor growth and inflation trends
- Gauge relative performance between sectors and economies
Guide equity and bond price trends
- Earnings analysis
- Dividend forecasting
- Default probability
- Sector rotation
Get early signals of changes in demand and supply trends
- Inflation forecasting
- Supply and demand pattern identification
Optimise asset allocation and portfolio performance analysis
- Track national and sector growth
- Productivity
- Profit margins
- Price trends
Nowcast economic variables
- Price and demand forecasting
- Competitor analysis and sector performance benchmarking
Benchmark your performance against key sectors
- Competitor analysis
- Understand the changing economic environment
Fine-tune your business strategy
- Price and demand forecasting
- Working capital management
- Monitor emerging risks
Navigate changing supply chains
- Track lead times
- Monitor inventory and price trends
- Stay on top of supply and demand trends
- Stay on top of supply and demand trends
Inform policy decisions
- Near real-time data to inform monetary decision-making
Blogs and Analysis
Get a rounded view of the macroeconomy well ahead official data releases
Identify key trends and turning points. The data covers manufacturing, services, construction, and composite (M+S) sectors across 47 countries. Data has a track record of correlating with official indicators for output, inflation, employment and more.
Monitor business cycle trends by detailed sectors
Conduct easy international comparison of growth rates with consistent methodologies across countries. Comprehensive sector data across regions allows for efficient ranking of sector performance. All sub-indices are available across sectors to track output, demand, employment, supply chains, costs, pricing, and more.
- Global, EU, Asia, and US sectors
- Adds depth to existing PMI coverage
- Identifies key growth industries
- Identifies key growth drivers within industries (e.g. exports)
- Tracks sector profitability
- Allows development of stock market classification-based investment models
Answer the “why” behind economic trends with Comment Trackers
A comment tool tracks the frequency of words or phrases mentioned in the qualitative responses provided by survey respondents. 130+ trackers show the underlying drivers of economic trends including inflation, demand, capacity and supply chains, and their impact on companies. Monthly data shows key emerging themes including inflation, demand, capacity, and supply chains.
- See what is driving key economic trends, including demand, inflation, inventories, and supply chains
- Use data to provide a basis for assumptions in modeling
- Understand underlying dynamics that impact their businesses and uncover key drivers behind PMI developments
PMI Signals
Get monthly insights from the PMI data, helping you track economic conditions and anticipate changing market shifts
The Decisive Podcast - PMI in Focus
PMI Coverage
PMI data are available for over 40 economies across a range of broad sectors including manufacturing, services, construction and the entire private sector.
In addition to providing national macroeconomic indicators, PMI data also monitor detailed industry trends for specific sectors in many regions
PMI Methodology
Each national PMI dataset is compiled from questionnaire responses from a survey panel of senior purchasing executives (or similar) at around 400 companies. The survey panels are carefully recruited to accurately represent the true structure of the monitored sector: manufacturing, services, construction or the entire private sector economy.
Questionnaires are completed in the second half of each month, and survey results are then processed by our economists. For each variable, panel members are asked to report an increase, decrease or no change compared with the previous month, and to provide reasons for any changes.
The survey questionnaire covers the economic variables shown in the adjacent accordion. Expand each item to learn more.
How PMI Works and What It Measures
PMI is a survey-based indicator that tracks real changes in business conditions, not just sentiment. It covers two main areas: manufacturing PMI and services PMI, measuring whether companies are seeing growth or contraction in key areas like output, new orders, employment, supplier delivery times, inventories, and prices.
Here's how it's calculated: Each month, purchasing managers report whether these variables are higher, lower, or unchanged compared to the previous month. The PMI formula is simple but powerful:
PMI = (% Higher) + 0.5 × (% Unchanged)
This produces a score between 0 and 100, where:
- 50 = no change (the economy is holding steady)
- Above 50 = expansion (business conditions are improving)
- Below 50 = contraction (business conditions are weakening)
This diffusion index methodology makes PMI easy to interpret and compare across countries and sectors.
Additional PMI Resources
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