PMI is short for Purchasing Manager’s Index. The index measures the change in a multitude of key business components (ex: business output, new orders, employment, costs, selling prices, exports, purchasing activity, supplier performance, backlogs of orders and inventories of both inputs, and finished goods). Any number below 50 indicates suggests a contraction in business activity. This is s leader, meaning it used to forecast rather than explain what has happened. The numbers portend of a looming recession, perhaps?