US: What To Expect From Friday's ISM

 | May 30, 2012 07:13AM ET

  • In May the list of manufacturing surveys grew longer, as we saw the release of the first manufacturing PMI survey from Markit Economics.    
  • We continue to favour the ISM over the Markit PMI as a predictor of activity in the manufacturing sector due to the longer history of data. That said, using only data back to mid-2007 the predictive power of the PMI for production, employment and inventories is comparable to the ISM.
  • If we adjust for the difference in weights, the Markit PMI has had a very strong correlation with the ISM over the past year. If this relation continues to hold, the flash PMI suggests a decline in the ISM to 53.5 on Friday. This is in line with our models suggesting a one-point decrease to 53.8.  
  • There is no doubt that the global industrial production cycle is turning softer and this is also starting to be felt in the US. That said, an ISM at 53 suggests manufacturing production growing at a 3.5% annual rate, which is still decent.