Following on the heels of a strong ISM Manufacturing report on Monday, today’s ISM report on the Non Manufacturing sector was also a good one. With economists expecting the headline index to come in at a level of 55.5 compared to August’s reading of 55.3, the actual reading came in at 59.8, which was the highest level for the index since August 2005. This month’s 4.5 point surge also represented the fourth largest one month increase in the history of the survey going back to 1997 and the biggest beat relative to expectations since May 2007. On a combined basis, the September ISM also came in at 59.8, which was the highest reading since August 2005.
The table below breaks down this month’s report by each of its subcomponents. On a month/month basis, the only two categories that declined were Inventories and Inventory Sentiment. On the upside, Prices Paid (+8.4) showed the largest increase, followed by Supplier Deliveries (+7.5) and New Orders (5.9). The Employment component was also up this month but by an extremely small amount.In the case of Prices Paid, this month’s spike took the index to its highest level since February 2012 after what was its largest m/m increase since October 2010.
