Urgent - The ISM Services Purchasing Managers' Index continues to grow, reaching its highest level since late 2022.

The data released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Thursday showed positive results for the Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for October, which was also better than market expectations, marking the fourth consecutive month of positive performance. According to the data, the PMI for the U.S. services sector recorded a reading of 56 points for October, the highest level for the services index since November 2022. Additionally, the October reading was significantly higher than market expectations, which anticipated an increase to 54.9 points, and the new reading surpassed the previous one, which was 54.9 points in September. It is worth mentioning that this index includes surveys from over 600 purchasing managers to gauge the relative level of business conditions, including employment, production, new orders, prices, resource deliveries, and inventories. Its direct impact on the currency is strong, but generally, if the actual value of the index at the time of its release is greater than expected, it is considered positive news for the currency, and the opposite is true if it is lower than expected. Moreover, this index provides insights regarding service prices and the likelihood of inflation increases, which is why the markets always monitor this indicator as it serves as a precursor to inflation that significantly affects the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions. Therefore, if the reading is higher than expected, it reflects positively on the dollar, and vice versa.