These Key Economic Indicators Were Released Last Week

Global investors should monitor economic indicators to understand the condition of the global economy (ACWI) (VTI). Indicators are important because they shed light on a country’s economic health. They help investors identify short-term economic trends and changes in market sentiments.

Important global indicators released last week include the following:

• US Manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index)
• France (EWQ) Manufacturing PMI
• Germany (EWG) Manufacturing PMI
• Eurozone Manufacturing PMI
• China (MCHI) (FXI) Manufacturing PMI
• Japan (EWJ) Manufacturing PMI
• Canada (EWC) Manufacturing PMI
• India (INDA) Manufacturing PMI
• US (QQQ) (SPY) services PMI
• France (EWQ) services PMI
• Germany (EWG) services PMI
• Eurozone services PMI
• China (MCHI) (FXI) services PMI
• Japan (EWJ) services PMI
• India (INDA) services PMI
• UK (EWU) services PMI
• US non-farm payroll
• US ADP employment

In this series, we’ll take a look at the global (VT) (ACWI) final manufacturing PMIs and services PMIs for March 2017. The manufacturing PMIs and services PMIs are important indicators to understand the business condition of an economy.

Monthly manufacturing PMI reports show manufacturing activity, output, new orders, export orders, and employment numbers. They help us assess the growth and trends in world manufacturing activity in the economy. In the same way, services PMIs help us assess the growth and trends in world service activity.

Many policymakers use the manufacturing PMIs and service PMIs reports to make important policy decisions that could affect the economy at large. In this series, we’ll also look at the US non-farm payroll and ADP employment report for March 2017.

In the next part of this series, we’ll analyze the performance of the US manufacturing PMI for March 2017.