EmailEconomic
Last Update: 03-May-13 10:17 ET
ISM Services
Highlights
- The ISM Non-manufacturing Index declined from 54.4 in March to 53.1 in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected the index to fall to 54.0.
Key Factors
- Business activities declined to 55.0 in April from 56.5 in March. New orders was virtually the same, falling only 0.1 points to 54.5. Order backlogs dropped to 51.5 in April from 54.5 in March. That is still above expansion/contraction threshold, but it will put pressure on new orders to keep business activities from decelerating further,
- Employment levels weakened as the index fell from 53.3 in March to 52.0 in April.
Big Picture
- The market generally doesn't pay much attention to the services index because the services sector is less cyclical than the manufacturing sector.
| Category | APR | MAR | FEB | JAN | DEC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Manufacturing ISM index | 53.1 | 54.4 | 56.0 | 55.2 | 55.7 |
| Business Activity | 55.0 | 56.5 | 56.9 | 56.4 | 60.8 |
| New Orders | 54.5 | 54.6 | 58.2 | 54.4 | 58.3 |
| Employment | 52.0 | 53.3 | 57.2 | 57.3 | 55.3 |
| Deliveries (nsa) | 51.0 | 53.0 | 51.5 | 52.5 | 48.5 |
| Inventories (nsa) | 56.0 | 51.5 | 54.0 | 47.0 | 50.0 |
| Exports (nsa) | 53.5 | 56.5 | 60.5 | 55.5 | 49.5 |
| Imports (nsa) | 58.5 | 57.5 | 52.5 | 51.0 | 49.0 |
| Prices Paid | 51.2 | 55.9 | 61.7 | 58.0 | 56.1 |
