Purchasing managers' index
A monthly survey of purchasing managers; above 50 more firms report growth than contraction.
A PMI asks purchasing managers whether output, new orders, employment, deliveries and inventories are higher, the same or lower than last month, and reports a diffusion index where 50 is the dividing line between expansion and contraction. China's official PMI comes from the NBS; most other countries' PMIs are compiled by S&P Global and are not free to redistribute.