The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for services dropped to 48.6 in April, indicating a halt in the recovery of the service economy for the first time since last November. All component indices declined, with business activity showing the largest negative impact, while hiring sentiment weakened and production plans were scaled down. Despite these downturns, companies maintain a more positive outlook for the coming six months and price pressure has stabilized.

1. Purchasing Managers’ Index – Services May 4, 2012
Services PMI drops to 48.6 in April – recovery of the service
economy comes to a halt
 The purchasing managers’ index for services (Services PMI) dropped by 4 index
points to 48.6 in April compared to 52.6 in March, which is the first time since
last November that growth in the service sector has halted. Monthly fluctuations
should be taken with a grain of salt, but the PMI levels for the past three months
(February – April) indicate an anemic recovery compared to the preceding three
month period.
 All component indices fell in April. The index for business activity was
responsible for the largest negative contribution, followed by the index for new
orders. Supplier delivery times is the only component index in the Services PMI
that remained in the growth zone, though it dropped as well.
 Service companies’ appetite for hiring continues to flag, pushing the employment
index to a lower level in April than we’ve seen in over two years. Production
plans have been scaled down, but a majority of companies still plan for
increases in production. This indicates that service companies have a more
positive outlook for the next six months than they have had in recent months.
 The index for supplier intermediate goods prices dropped from 53.8 in March to
52.1 in April. This indicates that pressure to increase prices in the service sector
has leveled off, which is consistent with the weaker demand scenario.
Services PMI
(Purchasing Managers’
Index - Services)
Seasonally adjusted
2012 Apr. 48.6
Mar. 52.6
Feb. 54.1
Jan. 54.4
Dec. 51.1
Nov. 49.0
Oct. 49.1
Sep. 51.2
Aug. 53.5
Jul. 54.1
Jun. 53.3
May 56.4
Apr. 60.8
Next publication of Services PMI: Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Jörgen Kennemar Swedbank, Economic Research Department, +46 (0)8-5859 7730
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Administration, +46 (0)8-5859 7740, ek.sekr@swedbank.se
Sebastian Bergfelt, Silf, +46 (0)73-944 6450, professionals@silf.se

2. Silf/Swedbank’s Purchasing Managers’ Index Service Sector, seasonally adjusted
Components of PMI Other indicies Forecast
Total index Business Delivery New Employ- Back -log Prices Planned
activity times orders ment of orders business
activity
2006 okt 61.8 68.1 55.3 62.9 58.5 56.6 54.9 68.3
nov 64.4 65.8 62.2 63.7 66.0 60.6 55.8 73.6
dec 67.5 71.9 59.9 68.4 67.9 58.8 53.2 75.4
2007 jan 65.7 70.4 61.0 66.8 62.7 62.2 57.8 73.9
feb 62.2 69.8 60.1 62.0 55.4 61.7 60.1 69.7
mar 58.9 59.9 54.5 61.1 58.2 56.2 55.8 68.0
apr 66.1 73.4 59.6 69.7 57.4 64.6 57.9 66.5
maj 60.5 61.8 59.4 61.6 58.2 65.9 59.9 66.4
jun 62.5 62.4 57.3 65.0 63.4 62.5 55.3 63.7
jul 60.2 63.7 61.2 61.0 53.5 60.0 58.5 64.9
aug 57.1 58.1 58.9 55.1 57.6 53.2 58.5 61.2
sep 58.6 59.7 57.6 55.8 63.3 57.7 52.9 62.9
okt 57.7 56.7 57.0 57.3 60.5 53.8 57.5 70.1
nov 61.3 67.5 55.5 61.8 58.5 59.4 61.5 55.3
dec 62.2 67.0 57.2 61.3 62.9 64.9 62.1 60.4
2008 jan 57.3 59.5 52.7 55.8 61.8 55.1 63.2 67.5
feb 55.9 56.3 54.3 57.9 53.5 58.8 61.2 63.9
mar 54.0 53.3 52.1 53.3 58.3 52.0 59.2 70.7
apr 52.7 53.6 48.8 49.7 60.7 53.1 56.1 61.7
maj 60.4 68.2 50.4 57.1 66.3 55.5 56.2 63.7
jun 52.4 55.9 49.7 47.9 58.8 45.8 63.8 63.8
jul 53.2 57.4 45.4 49.3 62.5 44.8 66.3 59.6
aug 50.6 53.1 49.4 45.6 57.4 49.3 57.4 61.0
sep 52.5 56.9 48.0 47.7 60.2 39.3 58.2 57.2
okt 43.0 44.9 46.0 36.1 49.8 44.9 58.2 49.2
nov 44.4 44.3 50.2 37.7 50.4 36.5 53.6 43.4
dec 38.2 37.8 40.0 36.8 39.5 37.2 45.2 40.5
2009 jan 34.8 32.8 42.4 34.6 30.2 27.2 48.6 33.9
feb 37.7 36.4 38.8 35.3 42.4 34.8 47.4 40.5
mar 40.2 43.3 41.2 41.8 32.5 38.6 48.1 36.0
apr 40.1 41.4 38.6 40.1 40.2 39.0 42.6 46.3
maj 40.4 43.9 42.4 43.3 28.9 38.0 40.6 43.9
juni 41.8 43.4 40.1 46.4 33.5 44.2 35.3 51.4
juli 42.6 44.9 38.2 47.2 36.1 42.6 40.2 54.9
aug 45.8 51.4 40.8 50.6 35.3 47.6 45.7 56.0
sep 49.1 53.3 46.1 56.0 34.9 54.8 49.4 59.6
okt 55.7 62.8 47.5 63.4 41.4 63.3 45.2 62.3
nov 51.8 57.1 48.4 57.5 38.9 57.7 44.7 68.3
dec 47.6 52.6 46.9 49.7 38.4 48.7 52.4 61.5
2010 jan 54.7 59.0 50.8 58.3 47.1 55.1 48.6 61.8
feb 60.4 63.1 54.0 66.9 52.1 60.9 46.4 74.9
mar 61.0 64.4 58.1 63.2 55.7 59.8 55.8 71.1
apr 62.4 66.6 60.5 64.6 55.4 61.1 60.3 73.9
maj 59.1 60.0 59.4 60.2 55.6 58.6 62.4 68.9
juni 59.7 61.3 62.1 61.2 52.7 61.3 62.0 69.0
juli 63.0 66.4 61.1 65.9 55.4 63.0 63.1 71.3
aug 64.0 66.4 61.9 67.8 56.6 64.0 62.2 70.7
sep 61.4 60.1 64.8 64.4 54.7 60.7 63.7 74.3
okt 64.3 65.9 62.0 68.2 58.0 62.0 60.5 77.5
nov 64.6 65.5 59.3 68.3 62.6 64.6 65.8 78.6
dec 66.0 69.8 64.7 65.7 62.8 60.9 63.6 77.1
2011 jan 65.1 70.2 61.3 65.1 62.6 63.6 67.1 77.9
feb 61.5 61.7 62.6 60.6 61.7 58.5 69.0 69.2
mar 60.4 63.8 60.2 58.4 60.0 55.2 64.5 68.9
apr 61.1 63.2 59.8 61.5 59.1 58.2 65.2 67.4
maj 56.4 55.8 58.1 55.1 57.7 50.2 59.9 67.0
juni 53.3 58.4 54.6 47.9 55.1 48.0 57.5 62.1
juli 54.1 54.9 55.6 52.3 54.7 53.2 54.1 62.1
aug 53.5 53.7 55.4 53.3 51.7 49.3 55.0 59.5
sep 51.2 52.3 51.7 48.1 54.7 47.8 54.2 57.4
okt 49.0 48.8 51.0 45.4 53.7 45.7 52.8 53.7
nov 49.0 50.0 49.3 46.9 51.0 45.8 53.6 54.4
dec 51.1 50.7 50.6 50.7 52.8 47.7 54.3 57.8
2012 jan 54.4 54.3 50.8 56.5 54.5 55.6 55.1 59.0
feb 54.1 57.2 50.1 54.1 54.0 48.2 53.9 60.7
mar 52.6 54.2 52.6 52.4 51.1 51.4 53.8 61.2
apr 48.6 47.7 51.5 47.3 49.3 48.1 52.1 56.9
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3. Silf/Swedbank’s Purchasing Managers’ Index Service Sector, orginal
Components of PMI Other indicies Forecast
Total index Business Delivery New Employ- Back -log Prices Planned
activity times orders ment of orders business
activity
2007 jan 60.9 63.3 58.3 62.2 58.2 57.1 59.2 71.4
feb 61.7 68.9 60.0 62.2 53.3 64.0 61.1 71.1
mar 60.6 63.4 52.4 64.6 58.5 59.8 56.1 69.5
apr 68.7 76.2 59.5 73.8 59.5 67.9 59.5 70.2
maj 63.8 66.3 60.5 65.1 61.6 69.8 62.8 70.9
jun 68.0 69.0 60.7 70.2 70.2 66.7 57.1 67.1
jul 56.1 56.3 64.1 53.1 53.1 53.1 59.4 65.6
aug 58.8 60.0 57.8 57.8 60.2 55.6 57.8 60.2
sep 60.4 63.1 58.1 58.1 63.4 58.1 53.5 61.6
okt 56.7 55.6 57.8 55.6 59.1 52.2 55.6 67.8
nov 59.1 65.8 55.3 57.9 56.6 55.3 57.9 51.3
dec 58.4 62.5 54.7 57.8 57.8 62.5 57.8 56.3
2008 jan 52.5 52.4 50.0 51.2 57.3 50.0 64.6 65.0
feb 55.3 55.4 54.2 58.1 51.4 61.1 62.2 65.3
mar 55.8 56.8 50.0 56.8 58.6 55.6 59.5 72.2
apr 55.2 56.4 48.7 53.8 62.8 56.4 57.7 65.4
maj 63.6 72.7 51.5 60.6 69.7 59.4 59.1 68.2
jun 58.0 62.5 53.1 53.1 65.6 50.0 65.6 67.2
jul 49.1 50.0 48.3 41.4 62.1 37.9 67.2 60.3
aug 52.3 55.0 48.3 48.3 60.0 51.7 56.7 60.0
sep 54.3 60.3 48.5 50.0 60.3 39.7 58.8 55.9
okt 42.0 43.8 46.8 34.4 48.4 43.3 56.3 46.9
nov 42.2 42.6 50.0 33.8 48.5 32.4 50.0 39.4
dec 34.4 33.3 37.5 33.3 34.4 34.8 40.9 36.4
2009 jan 30.0 25.7 39.7 30.0 25.7 22.1 50.0 31.4
feb 37.1 35.5 38.7 35.5 40.3 37.1 48.4 41.9
mar 41.9 46.8 39.1 45.3 32.8 42.2 48.4 37.5
apr 42.7 44.2 38.5 44.2 42.3 42.3 44.2 50.0
maj 43.6 48.4 43.5 46.8 32.3 41.9 43.5 48.4
juni 47.3 50.0 43.5 51.6 40.3 48.4 37.1 54.8
juli 38.5 37.5 41.1 39.3 35.7 35.7 41.1 55.6
aug 47.5 53.3 39.7 53.3 37.9 50.0 45.0 55.0
sep 50.9 56.7 46.6 58.3 35.0 55.2 50.0 58.3
okt 54.7 61.7 48.3 61.7 40.0 61.7 43.3 60.0
nov 49.7 55.4 48.2 53.6 37.0 53.6 41.1 64.3
dec 43.7 48.1 44.4 46.2 33.3 46.3 48.1 57.4
2010 jan 49.9 51.9 48.1 53.7 42.6 50.0 50.0 59.3
feb 59.8 62.2 53.9 67.1 50.0 63.2 47.4 76.3
mar 62.7 67.9 56.0 66.7 56.0 63.4 56.1 72.6
apr 65.0 69.4 60.4 68.7 57.5 64.4 61.9 77.6
maj 62.3 64.5 60.5 63.7 59.0 62.5 65.3 73.4
juni 65.2 67.9 65.5 66.4 59.5 65.5 63.8 72.4
juli 58.9 59.0 64.0 58.0 55.0 56.1 64.0 72.0
aug 65.8 68.3 60.8 70.5 59.2 66.4 61.5 69.7
sep 63.2 63.5 65.3 66.7 54.8 61.1 64.3 73.0
okt 63.4 64.8 62.8 66.5 56.6 60.4 58.6 75.2
nov 62.5 63.8 59.1 64.4 60.7 60.5 62.2 74.6
dec 62.1 65.3 62.2 62.2 57.7 58.5 59.3 73.0
2011 jan 60.3 63.1 58.6 60.5 58.1 58.5 68.5 75.4
feb 60.9 60.8 62.5 60.8 59.6 60.8 70.0 70.6
mar 62.2 67.3 58.1 61.9 60.3 58.8 64.8 70.4
apr 63.6 66.0 59.7 65.6 61.2 61.5 66.8 71.1
maj 59.6 60.3 59.2 58.6 61.1 54.1 62.8 71.5
juni 58.8 65.0 58.0 53.1 61.9 52.2 59.3 65.5
juli 50.0 47.5 58.5 44.4 54.3 46.3 55.0 62.8
aug 55.2 55.6 54.3 56.0 54.3 51.7 54.3 58.5
sep 53.0 55.7 52.2 50.4 54.8 48.2 54.8 56.1
okt 48.0 47.7 51.8 43.7 52.3 44.1 50.9 51.4
nov 46.8 48.3 49.1 43.0 49.1 41.7 50.0 50.4
dec 47.2 46.2 48.1 47.2 47.7 45.3 50.0 53.7
2012 jan 49.6 47.2 48.1 51.9 50.0 50.5 56.5 56.5
feb 53.5 56.3 50.0 54.3 51.9 50.5 54.9 62.1
mar 54.4 57.7 50.5 55.9 51.4 55.0 54.1 62.7
apr 51.2 50.5 51.4 51.4 51.4 51.4 53.7 60.6
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4. Silf/Swedbank’s
Purchasing Managers’ Index – Services
- objectives and methodology
History Silf and Swedbank AB publ. made the first joint – internal – calculation of
the “Purchasing Managers’ Index” for the service sector of the four
indexes (PMI) during 2005. The model for PMI – Services is the U.S.
based Non-Manufacturing Index and the Swedish PMI, which has been
published since November 1994
Participants About 200 purchasing managers in the service sector.
Publication Third weekday of each month, 8:30 am.
Analysis Period Comparison with previous month.
Composition
of PMI – Services (%) New orders (within the company) 35
Business activity (within the company) 25
Employment (within the company) 20
Suppliers’ Delivery Times 20
Other leading indicators
(not included in PMI – Services) Backlog of Orders
Suppliers’ intermediate goods prices
Planned business activity next six months
Objective Quick economic indicator
Simple statistics
Statistics with relatively short publication intervals
Constant contact with a well-informed professional group
Calculation According to “diffusion index”. Positive changes are noted in percent for
the four sub indexes. The percentage of unchanged replies, multiplied by
0.5, is added to this figure. Then the different sub indexes are weighted as
described above to reach the total index. The Purchasing Managers’
Index – Services does not indicate activity levels but rather monthly
changes in activity in the service sector.
“Break-even” The dividing line between growth and decline – in line with US praxis –
has been drawn at a total index of 50. However, this boundary or “neutral
growth zone” should not be applied excessively. Rather, “Break-even” at
50 indicates a target value.
We believe we have used reliable sources and procedures to generate and analyze the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI –
Services). However, Swedbank AB (publ) and SILF (earlier Organisationen för Inköp och Logistik, /I&L/ – The Organization
for Purchasing and Logistics) cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the analyses and cannot be responsible for
any errors or omissions in the basic data or processing thereof. The reader should base any decisions on other background
material as well.
Swedbank AB (publ), SILF. their employees, and other coworkers accept no liability whatsoever for any direct or
consequential loss or injury of any kind arising from any errors or omissions in the analyses presented in the Purchasing
Managers’ Index – Services.
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