Switzerland’s SVME PMI rose more than expected to 56.9 in November from 54.0 in October, indicating Switzerland’s manufacturing sector continued its expansion for a fourth consecutive month, according to a survey from the Swiss Association of Purchasing and Materials Management and Credit Suisse.

For July
Provided By: Credit Suisse (n/a if selecting US from dropdown)
Official Release: PDF

From the Release: "Thanks to the seventh increase in a row (+4.1 points), the SVME Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) reached 54.3 points in September. The PMI has remained above the 50-point growth threshold for two successive months now. The index last exceeded this level in June 2008, before Switzerland slipped into recession. The recovery in industrial activity is also clear from the three-month aggregated trend. Viewed in this way, the index rose by 4.2 points to 49.6 points, and is therefore just outside the growth zone.

Each of the five subindices that feed into the PMI closed higher month on month. Only the stocks of purchases and employment subindices still remained the wrong side of the threshold. The backlog of orders and output components rose by 3.7 and 6.5 points respectively, to levels last seen in the boom year of 2007 (60.1 and 62.0 points respectively). We should not ignore, however, that the increase in output and the backlog of orders currently seen in the PMI originate from a very low level. The suppliers' delivery times component advanced further within the growth zone to 54.4 points – the trend toward longer delivery times evidently continued into September. By contrast, the stocks of purchases component continues to signal a reduction in inventories. Despite another increase, at 42.0 points this figure is still below the point that separates contraction and expansion. At 42.1 points, the employment component also crept up, but remains outside the growth zone. This is a sign of continued downsizing."

For June
Provided B: Credit Suisse (n/a if selecting US from dropdown)

The SVME purchasing manager's index rose for the third consecutive month, climbing to 41.8. It still remains below the 50 level which separates contraction from expansion.

For May
Official Release: PDF

From the Release: "The SVME Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose again in May. Its 5.1-index-point advance was the strongest since September 2005. This second successive increase seems to have broken the 15-month downtrend that has been in place since December 2007. However, the PMI remains well outside the growth zone that begins at the 50-point mark. It has been below this threshold for nine consecutive months now. In fact, Swiss industrial activity is contracting to such an extent that the index has failed to progress beyond even the 40-point mark for seven months in a row. The economic decline thus continues, but at a slower pace than previously. Smoothed out over threemonths, the longer-term trend also shows clearly that the downturn is losing momentum. Expressed in this way, the index advanced by 2.4 points to 35.7 points."