The headline ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) figure fell to 57.1 in March from 58.6 in February, a miss against expectations for a small rise to 59.0, according to the latest release by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). There was a sharp rise in the Price Paid subindex to 87.1 from 75.6 in February, which was larger than the expected reading of 80.0. The Employment index rose to 56.3 from 52.9 in February, in fitting with the recently released strong official labour market data, while the New Orders index fell sharply to 53.8 from 61.7 in February. 

Market Reaction

FX markets hardly budged in reaction to the data which, most notably, showed a surge in inflationary pressures in the manufacturing sector last month.