Purchasing managers' index (PMI) · Germany
Germany HCOB Composite PMI Final
The Germany HCOB Composite PMI Final is a monthly survey of purchasing managers in Germany that measures whether business activity, new orders, employment and prices are rising or falling.
- Importance
- High
- Currency
- EUR · euro
- Central bank
- The European Central Bank (with the Bundesbank)
Latest figures
No results of this release are shown yet. They appear here as soon as they are published.
Why it matters
PMIs are among the first data published for each month, weeks before official output figures, and they have a good record of tracking GDP. A reading above 50 means growth, below 50 contraction. Flash (preliminary) PMIs for the major economies can move currencies and stock indices strongly.
How it is calculated
Companies answer whether each item (output, new orders, employment, delivery times, stocks of purchases) is higher, the same or lower than a month earlier. Each answer set becomes a diffusion index; the manufacturing headline is a weighted average of five of them, the services headline is the activity question.
Diffusion index = % higher + ½ × % same
Manufacturing PMI = 0.30 new orders + 0.25 output + 0.20 employment + 0.15 delivery times (inverted) + 0.10 stocksWhat changes mean
- Above 50 and rising: an accelerating economy, supportive for the euro and local stocks.
- The composite PMI combines manufacturing and services and is the best single guide to GDP.
- Look at new orders (future activity) and prices charged (inflation pressure).
Higher than expected: A stronger figure than expected points to a healthier economy: it usually supports the euro and local stocks, and can push bond yields up.
Lower than expected: A weaker figure than expected points to slowing activity: the euro tends to soften and markets price in lower rates.
A short history
The PMI method comes from the US purchasing managers' survey of the 1940s; the PMIs now produced for more than 40 countries started in the UK in 1992 and spread across Europe and Asia in the following decades.
Questions
What is the Germany HCOB Composite PMI Final?
The Germany HCOB Composite PMI Final is a monthly survey of purchasing managers in Germany that measures whether business activity, new orders, employment and prices are rising or falling.
Why is 50 the key level of a PMI?
It is the point where as many companies report improvement as report deterioration: above it, activity is growing.
Educational content only, not investment advice. Figures are the published results as recorded by our calendar; market reactions described are typical, not guaranteed.