An industry report geared towards reflecting the health of manufacturing industries and whether their key vital signs are expanding, contracting or standing still in a given month. Industries who represent a larger share of gross domestic product receive the largest weighting in the report. The report relies on a diffusion index, which is designed to report more, less or the same amount of activity compared to the prior month. Because PMI data is collected globally, we tend to get a good picture of the state of manufacturing around the world. Manufacturing is also very sensitive to the consumer sector and provides a good lead to overall future economic health.