Led by a 3.2-point jump in services to 53.8, March's PMI flashes point to momentum at quarter's end. Manufacturing, which has been in sub-50 contraction since last November, improved 2 points to 49.3.

New orders for the services sample expanded for the first time since September last year and at the fastest pace since May last year. Output rose at the fastest pace since last April. Backlogs are up as is employment with the 12-month output outlook increasing but at a slower rate than sales.

For manufacturing, new orders continued to slow but at an easing rate. And output posted the first monthly advance since last October. An important plus is record improvement in delivery times that led to a record reduction in lead times. Employment rose modestly.

March's inflation data are mixed. Manufacturing costs eased as did pass through to customers though input prices for services accelerated"markedly" with selling prices, however, raised at the sharpest rate in five months.

Today's results will have forecasters nudging up their estimates for ISM's manufacturing index which, like the PMI, has been in contraction since November and which in February came in at 47.7. For ISM services, today's strong gain points to a third straight mid-50's result for this index which has been consistently outperforming the services PMI.

For US data in general, scores on Econoday's Consensus Divergence Indexes are at zero, both overall and excluding prices to indicate that data are coming in exactly in line with Econoday's consensus forecasts.

Services popped back into the 50 column in February for the first time in eight months. 50.3 is the consensus for March. Manufacturing in contrast has been in sub-50 contraction for the last four months. 47.2 is the manufacturing consensus.

The flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) provides an early estimate of current private sector output by combining information obtained from surveys of around 1,000 manufacturing and service sector companies. The flash data are released around 10 days ahead of the final report and are typically based upon around 85 percent of the full survey sample. The report tracks changes in variables such as new orders, stock levels, employment and prices across both manufacturing and services. Production is also tracked, defined as"production" for manufacturing and"output" for services. Results are synthesized into a single index which can range between zero and 100. A reading above (below) 50 signals rising (falling) output versus the previous month and the closer to 100 (zero) the faster output is growing (contracting). The report also contains flash estimates of the manufacturing and services PMIs. The data are produced by S&P Global.

Investors need to keep their fingers on the pulse of the economy because it dictates how various types of investments will perform. By tracking economic data such as the purchasing managers' manufacturing indexes, investors will know what the economic backdrop is for the various markets. The stock market likes to see healthy economic growth because that translates to higher corporate profits. The bond market prefers less rapid growth and is extremely sensitive to whether the economy is growing too quickly and causing potential inflationary pressures.