HCOB Manufacturing PMI in Spain

The HCOB Spain Manufacturing PMI (an S&P Global survey sponsored by Hamburg Commercial Bank and compiled with AERCE) is a diffusion index based on a survey of purchasing managers in Spanish manufacturing. Above 50 signals expansion. Unlike Germany or France, Spain has no flash reading: only the final print is released.

A weighted composite of five sub-indices: new orders (30%), output (25%), employment (20%), suppliers' delivery times (15%) and stocks of purchases (10%). Seasonally adjusted.

It is an early gauge of the industrial cycle in Spain, the euro area's fourth-largest economy, though manufacturing carries less weight in its GDP than services. It helps calibrate Spain's contribution to bloc-wide activity.

A qualitative survey: it measures the direction of change, not its size. With no flash reading, it arrives later than those for Germany, France or the EU as a whole.