The non-manufacturing ISM surveys nearly 400 firms from 60 sectors across the United States, including agriculture, mining, construction, transportation, communications, wholesale trade and retail trade. Financial market players monitor the business activity index, because a composite index, like its manufacturing cousin, is not compiled by the ISM. Why Investors Care
| Released on 9/6/07 For Aug 2007 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Highlights
The ISM non-manufacturing index was unchanged in August, at a very solid 55.8 that points to steady economic growth through the second half of the year. The results complement the ISM's survey on the manufacturing side, both of which should ease concern at the Federal Reserve that August's turmoil in the financial markets had an immediate impact on the economy.
New orders were especially strong for non-manufacturers in August, with the index rising to 57.0 vs. 52.8 in July. Offsetting this slightly was a dip back in backlog orders to 50.0 vs. 53.0.
But in perhaps a bad sign at least for tomorrow's employment report, the employment index fell from 51.7 to 47.9 -- the lowest reading in nearly five years. Remember, the main index in this report is not a composite and does not reflect the sub-indexes such as employment. Other readings included an easing price in pressures and a rise in inventories.
There was little immediate reaction to the report as the headline gain and gain in new orders are offset by the decline in employment. But the report does focus attention on tomorrow's employment report which, if it proves weak, will trump signs of strength in August including the ISM reports and chain-store and vehicle reports.
The business activity index from the ISM non-manufacturing survey slowed noticeably in July, falling back to 55.8 from June's very strong 60.7. New orders also moderated, declining to 52.8 from 56.9 in June. While the numbers are still in the positive range, they clearly suggest more moderate growth in non-manufacturing.
Business activity index Consensus Forecast for August 07: 54.5
Range: 52.0 to 56.7
![[Chart]](chart.gif)
|
The ISM non-manufacturing survey does not compile a composite index like its manufacturing cousin. The business activity index, which is actually akin to the production index in the manufacturing survey, is widely followed as the key figure from this survey. |
| 2007 Release Schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
powered by
![[Econoday]](../../../../../../../../../images/logo.gif){kind=logo}