The US Sales Managers Survey Results for April show a continuation of the rapid but still reasonable economic growth seen in previous months.
So far the great engine that is the American economy seems to be working well, largely untouched by the significant rise in interest rates seen recently, or the continuing shadow of wars in Ukraine, Palestine and elsewhere.
The evidence presented by the April Sales Managers Survey suggests that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes have had at best a very modest restraining impact on economic activity levels. However, the Fed's efforts at simultaneously cutting price inflation seem to be working less well. The Sales Managers Price index bounced back from a 44 month low in March to a 6 month high reading of 55.8 in April.
The dragon of Price Inflation clearly has not yet been slain.
The Sales Managers' Indexes provide the earliest monthly data on the speed and direction of economic activity in key growth areas of the world.
The SMI’s (Sales Managers’ Indexes) are compiled and analysed by World Economics and are based on survey data collected from a panel of companies stratifying all Industry Classification Board (ICB) sectors which are weighted to reflect their contribution to national Gross Domestic Product.
Key advantages of the SMI's:
SMI data for the ~USA is published as diffusion indexes to gauge the speed and direction of economic activity.
Monthly data since 2011 is downloadable for all-sectors in a consistent unadjusted format for 7 key indexes: