ISM non-manufacturing index investment & finance definition

An index produced by the Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing that is based on surveys of 370 purchasing and supply executives. Its shorter name is ISM Services Survey, and it was started in 1997. If the index is over 50, it typically indicates expansion among non-manufacturing components of the economy. A value under 50 indicates contraction. There are ten subindices. Of those, the business activity subindex is most influential. The other nine indices are new orders, supplier deliveries, employment, inventories, prices, backlog of orders, new export orders, imports, and inventory sentiment. A limitation of the survey is that it doesn’t include any questions on wages, which is an important component of overall costs.