PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) is a monthly survey of companies' purchasing managers about orders, output, employment and prices, summarised as one number. A reading above 50 means activity grew compared with the previous month according to the survey, and a reading below 50 means it shrank. In the United States the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) publishes widely followed versions and S&P Global publishes PMIs for many countries; releases can coincide with higher volatility and wider spreads.
Also called: Purchasing Managers' Index, ISM, ISM manufacturing, ISM PMI, manufacturing PMI, services PMI
Hypothetical example
Hypothetically, if the forecast is 50.0 and the actual figure is 51.2, the survey points to growth in activity, and the actual figure is 1.2 points above the forecast.
