ISM Services Up a Bit in February v January

While ISM Manufacturing gets much of the attention, that sector represents just over 10% of the U.S. economy.  Meanwhile services dominates, so today's ISM figure is much more relevant.  Much like last month it was a nice headline print, with cost pressures increasing and some positive trends in employment - which have yet to really filter through to the government's monthly data.

• Headline figure at 59.7 in February versus 59.4 in January.
• Employment Index increased 1.1 percentage points to 55.6 percent, indicating growth in employment for the sixth consecutive month and at a faster rate. 
• The Prices Index increased 1.2 percentage points to 73.3 percent, indicating that prices increased at a faster rate in February.

ISM NON-MANUFACTURING SURVEY RESULTS AT A GLANCE COMPARISON OF ISM NON-MANUFACTURING AND ISM MANUFACTURING SURVEYS* FEBRUARY 2011
	Non-Manufacturing						Manufacturing
Index	Series Index Feb.	Series Index Jan.	Percent Point Change	Direction	Rate of Change	Trend** (Months)	Series Index Feb.	Series Index Jan.	Percent Point Change
NMI/PMI	59.7	59.4	+0.3	Growing	Faster	15	61.4	60.8	+0.6
Business Activity/Production	66.9	64.6	+2.3	Growing	Faster	19	66.3	63.5	+2.8
New Orders	64.4	64.9	-0.5	Growing	Slower	19	68.0	67.8	+0.2
Employment	55.6	54.5	+1.1	Growing	Faster	6	64.5	61.7	+2.8
Supplier Deliveries	52.0	53.5	-1.5	Slowing	Slower	11	59.4	58.6	+0.8
Inventories	55.5	49.0	+6.5	Growing	From Contracting	1	48.8	52.4	-3.6
Prices	73.3	72.1	+1.2	Increasing	Faster	19	82.0	81.5	+0.5
Backlog of Orders	52.0	50.5	+1.5	Growing	Faster	2	59.0	58.0	+1.0
New Export Orders	56.5	53.5	+3.0	Growing	Faster	6	62.5	62.0	+0.5
Imports	53.5	53.5	0.0	Growing	Unchanged	7	55.0	55.0	0.0
Inventory Sentiment	57.5	60.0	-2.5	Too High	Slower	165	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers' Inventories	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	40.0	45.5	-5.5