May 31, 2012 (AAPLTrader)

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) was founded in 1915 and is the world’s largest supply management association. ISM's membership base includes more than 40,000 supply management professionals with a network of domestic and international affiliated associations.

The company exists to lead and serve the supply management profession and is a highly influential and respected association in the global marketplace. By executing and extending its mission through education, research, standards of excellence and information dissemination, ISM maintains a strong global influence among individuals and organizations.

Not only was it founded about 100 years ago, it is the first supply management institute in the world. The report is due-out monthly, on the first business day after the month ends. It's a leading indicator of economic health; businesses react quickly to market conditions, and their purchasing managers hold perhaps the most current and relevant insight into the company's view of the economy.

What is reported?

• New Orders


• New Export Orders


• Imports


• Production


• Employment & Prices


• Supplier Deliveries


• Inventories


• Backlog of Orders

The manufacturing ISM report on business is based on data compiled from purchasing and supply executives nationwide. Membership of the Manufacturing Business Survey Committee is diversified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), based on each industry's contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Survey responses reflect the change, if any, in the current month compared to the previous month. This report shows the percentage reporting each response, the net difference between the number of responses in the positive economic direction (higher, better and slower for Supplier Deliveries) and the negative economic direction (lower, worse and faster for Supplier Deliveries), and the diffusion index. Responses are raw data and are never changed. The diffusion index includes the percent of positive responses plus one-half of those responding the same (considered positive).

This report also discusses the Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI), which is a composite index based on the diffusion indexes of five of the indexes with equal weights: New Orders (seasonally adjusted), Production (seasonally adjusted), Employment (seasonally adjusted), Supplier Deliveries (seasonally adjusted), and Inventories.

This report comes out tomorrow at 10:00am EST, so keep your eye out and see what sort of impact it will have on the current market.

Eric Consiglio - AAPLTrader.com