Services PMI
The same idea as manufacturing PMI, applied to the sector that dominates most developed economies.
What it is
Services PMI is the same survey-based concept as manufacturing PMI, applied to the services sector -- everything from finance and healthcare to retail and hospitality. In most developed economies, services make up a much larger share of GDP than manufacturing, which is exactly why services PMI often carries more weight in a growth assessment than manufacturing PMI does.
How to read it
Same 50-line logic as manufacturing: above is expansion, below is contraction, and crossing the line matters more than movement within one side of it. A composite PMI (blending both manufacturing and services, weighted by their share of the economy) is sometimes reported alongside the two individual readings and is the most complete single snapshot of the two together.
Worked example
If manufacturing PMI is weak at 47 (contracting) but services PMI is strong at 54 (expanding), the overall economy can still look reasonably healthy on a composite basis, since services typically carry the larger weight. Reading only one of the two PMIs in an economy where services dominates can give a distorted picture of overall growth.
See Services PMI live
Macrolens tracks this release and scores it into the composite -- free to start, no credit card required.