ISM Manufacturing PMI
First business day of the month · 10:00 ET
A survey of purchasing managers in manufacturing; 50 separates expansion from contraction. It is the month's first broad read on the US economy, which gives it outsized influence on the narrative.
The prices-paid and employment sub-indices often matter as much as the headline — prices-paid feeds inflation expectations, employment previews NFP.
What it measures
The Institute for Supply Management's survey of manufacturing purchasing managers: new orders, production, employment, prices paid, deliveries. Readings above 50 mean expansion.
- Headline PMI vs the 50 line — expansion or contraction
- Prices paid — a live inflation-expectations input
- Employment — an early preview of the month's NFP
Why the economy cares
The first broad read of the new month. Manufacturing is a small share of US GDP but a leading one — factories feel turns in demand before services do.
How it maps onto the chart
Strong PMI → growth-optimism, usually USD-supportive; sub-50 prints feed recession narratives. The 10:00 ET slot means US cash equities are open and react in real time. Measured: ~1.2x baseline.
Price behavior around the release
Before
Light positioning; the release shares the morning with the 8:30 slot, so the pre-news structure is usually whatever that slot left behind.
During
A brisk single move on the headline, with second-leg risk if prices-paid diverges hard from it.
After
Sets the tone into the European close more than it drives multi-day trends; the services twin two days later regularly overrides it.
Who lets you trade it
News-trading policy of every firm in our verified catalog, read off the firm's own pages. Details and per-program exceptions live in the firm's rules.
| Firm | Policy | Window | If violated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Capital | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| Apex Trader Funding | Allowed | — | — |
| AquaFunded | Allowed | ±5 min | Profit share reduced |
| Atlas Funded | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| Blue Guardian | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| BrightFunded | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| Bulenox | Allowed | — | None |
| E8 Markets | Allowed | — | — |
| Earn2Trade | Allowed | — | None |
| FTMO | Restricted (funded) | ±2 min | Account breach |
| Funded Trading Plus | Allowed | — | None |
| FundedNext | Allowed | ±5 min | Profit share reduced |
| FundingPips | Restricted (funded) | ±5 min | Profit removed |
| FXIFY | Allowed | — | — |
| Lucid Trading | Allowed | — | — |
| MyFundedFutures | Restricted (funded) | ±2 min | — |
| Take Profit Trader | Restricted (funded) | — | — |
| The5ers | Allowed | — | — |
| Topstep | Allowed | — | — |
| Tradeify | Allowed | — | — |
Policies verified 2026-08-22 and re-checked weekly. Restricted usually applies to funded accounts only — evaluations are commonly exempt; open the firm's rules for the exact split.