Non-Manufacturing Activity in the U.S. and Euro Area
January 5, 2017
The U.S. non-manufacturing purchasing managers index remained flat at 57.2 in December. Not since October 2015 has the NMI been higher than this level. In December, a 4.6-point improvement in the sub-index for new business to 61.6 was counterbalanced with a 4.4-point drop in jobs to a reading of 53.8. Along with today’s smaller-than-forecast ADP estimate that private jobs grew 153K last month, the slower expansion of jobs indicated in the NMI suggests that Friday’s monthly Labor Force Report could be disappointing.
Euroland’s services purchasing managers index improved 0.5 points to 54.4, the best reading in about 5-1/2 years. The French and Irish PMIs went up 1.3 points and 3.1 points to respective 3- and 4-month highs, but Germany’s services PMI fell 0.8 points to a 2-month low.
The U.S. still holds a comfortable advantage in service sector activity relative to the euro area. It’s non-manufacturing PMI exceeds Euroland’s services PMI by 2.8 points, down from 3.3 points the month before. Euroland’s manufacturing PMI was a mere 0.2 points above the U.S. counterpart. The rightmost column below adds the two PMI differentials. That sum was +2.6 last month and ranged during calendar 2016 from -4.2 in January to +4.1 points in June.
PMIs | U.S. | Ezone | U.S. | Ezone | Sum of | ||
NonMfg | Services | Spread | Mf’g | Mf’g | Spread | Spreads | |
Jan 2012 | 56.8 | 50.4 | +6.4 | 54.1 | 48.8 | +5.3 | +10.9 |
Feb | 56.1 | 48.8 | +7.3 | 51.9 | 49.0 | +2.9 | +10.2 |
March | 55.0 | 49.2 | +5.8 | 53.3 | 47.7 | +5.6 | +11.4 |
April | 53.7 | 46.9 | +6.8 | 54.1 | 45.9 | +8.2 | +15.0 |
May | 54.1 | 46.7 | +7.4 | 52.5 | 45.1 | +7.4 | +14.8 |
June | 52.7 | 47.1 | +5.6 | 50.2 | 45.1 | +5.1 | +10.7 |
July | 52.9 | 47.9 | +5.0 | 50.5 | 44.0 | +6.5 | +11.5 |
August | 54.3 | 47.2 | +7.1 | 50.7 | 45.1 | +5.6 | +12.7 |
Sept | 55.2 | 46.1 | +9.1 | 51.6 | 46.1 | +5.5 | +14.6 |
October | 54.8 | 46.0 | +8.8 | 51.7 | 45.4 | +6.3 | +15.1 |
November | 54.8 | 46.7 | +8.1 | 49.9 | 46.2 | +3.7 | +11.8 |
December | 55.7 | 47.8 | +7.9 | 50.2 | 46.1 | +4.1 | +12.0 |
Jan 2013 | 55.2 | 48.6 | +6.6 | 53.1 | 47.9 | +5.2 | +11.8 |
February | 54.8 | 47.9 | +8.1 | 53.1 | 47.9 | +5.2 | +13.3 |
March | 54.5 | 46.4 | +8.1 | 51.5 | 46.8 | +4.7 | +12.8 |
April | 53.8 | 47.0 | +6.8 | 50.0 | 46.7 | +3.3 | +10.1 |
May | 54.0 | 47.2 | +6.8 | 50.0 | 48.3 | +1.7 | +8.5 |
June | 53.4 | 48.3 | +5.1 | 52.5 | 48.8 | +3.7 | +8.8 |
July | 55.9 | 49.8 | +6.1 | 54.9 | 50.3 | +4.6 | +10.7 |
August | 57.9 | 50.7 | +7.2 | 56.3 | 51.4 | +4.9 | +12.1 |
Sept | 54.5 | 52.2 | +2.3 | 56.0 | 51.1 | +4.9 | +7.2 |
October | 55.1 | 51.6 | +3.5 | 56.6 | 51.3 | +5.3 | +8.8 |
November | 54.1 | 51.2 | +2.9 | 57.0 | 51.6 | +5.4 | +8.3 |
December | 53.0 | 51.0 | +2.0 | 56.5 | 52.7 | +3.8 | +5.8 |
Jan 2014 | 54.0 | 51.6 | +2.4 | 51.3 | 54.0 | -2.7 | -0.3 |
February | 52.5 | 52.6 | -0.1 | 54.3 | 53.2 | +1.1 | +1.0 |
March | 53.7 | 52.1 | +1.6 | 54.4 | 53.0 | +1.4 | +3.0 |
April | 55.3 | 53.1 | +2.2 | 55.3 | 53.4 | +1.9 | +4.1 |
May | 56.1 | 53.2 | +2.9 | 55.6 | 52.2 | +3.4 | +6.3 |
June | 56.3 | 52.8 | +3.5 | 55.7 | 51.8 | +3.9 | +7.4 |
July | 57.9 | 54.2 | +3.7 | 56.4 | 51.8 | +4.6 | +8.3 |
August | 58.6 | 53.1 | +5.5 | 58.1 | 50.7 | +7.4 | +12.9 |
Sept | 58.1 | 52.4 | +5.7 | 56.1 | 50.3 | +5.8 | +11.5 |
October | 56.9 | 52.1 | +4.8 | 57.9 | 50.6 | +7.3 | +12.1 |
November | 58.8 | 51.1 | +7.7 | 57.6 | 50.1 | +7.5 | +15.2 |
December | 56.5 | 51.6 | +4.9 | 55.1 | 50.6 | +4.5 | +9.4 |
Jan 2015 | 56.7 | 52.7 | +4.0 | 53.5 | 51.0 | +2.5 | +6.5 |
February | 57.1 | 53.7 | +4.4 | 52.3 | 51.0 | +1.3 | +5.7 |
March | 56.9 | 54.2 | +2.7 | 52.3 | 52.2 | +0.1 | +2.8 |
April | 57.5 | 54.1 | +3.4 | 51.6 | 52.0 | -0.4 | +3.0 |
May | 55.9 | 53.8 | +2.1 | 53.1 | 52.2 | +0.9 | +3.0 |
June | 56.2 | 54.4 | +1.8 | 53.1 | 53.1 | 0.0 | +1.8 |
July | 59.6 | 54.0 | +5.6 | 51.9 | 52.4 | -0.5 | +5.1 |
August
Sept October |
58.3
56.7 58.3 |
54.4
53.7 54.1 |
+3.9
+3.0 +4.2 |
51.0
50.0 49.4 |
52.3
52.0 52.3 |
-1.3
-2.0 -2.9 |
+2.6
+1.0 +1.3 |
November
December Jan 2016 February March April May June July August September October November December |
56.6
55.8 53.5 53.4 54.5 55.7 52.9 56.5 55.5 51.4 57.1 54.8 57.2 57.2 |
54.2
54.2 53.6 53.3 53.1 53.1 53.3 52.8 52.9 52.8 52.2 52.8 53.9 54.4
|
+1.7
+1.6 -0.1 +0.1 +1.4 +2.6 -0.4 +3.7 +2.6 -1.4 +4.9 +2.0 +3.3 +2.8 |
48.4
48.0 48.2 49.5 51.8 50.8 51.3 53.2 52.6 49.4 51.5 51.9 53.2 54.7 |
52.8
53.2 52.3 51.2 51.6 51.7 51.5 52.8 52.0 51.7 52.6 53.5 53.7 54.9 |
-4.4
-5.2 -4.1 -1.7 +0.2 -0.9 -0.2 +0.4 +0.6 -2.3 -1.1 -1.6 -0.5 -0.2 |
-2.7
-3.6 -4.2 -1.6 +1.6 +1.7 -0.6 +4.1 +3.2 -3.7 +3.8 +0.4 +2.8 +2.6 |
Copyright 2017, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.