Monthly PMI Bulletin: February 2026

The following is an extract from S&P Global Market Intelligence's latest Monthly PMI Bulletin. For the full report, please click on the 'Download Full Report' link.

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Price pressures intensify alongside accelerating global growth

The global economic expansion picked up pace at the start of 2026 amid improvements across both the manufacturing and service sectors. That said, business confidence remained subdued while price pressures intensified, adding doubts to the sustainability of the ongoing expansion.

]The J.P.Morgan Global PMI Composite Output Index - produced by S&P Global - posted 52.5 in January, up from 52.0 in December. Despite signalling stronger growth at the start of the year, the latest reading was the second-lowest since last September. The January PMI is broadly consistent with global GDP growing at an annualized rate of 2.6%, which remains lower than the average GDP growth rate of 3.1% observed in the decade prior to the pandemic.

The latest improvement was attributed to stronger manufacturing output growth, with production notably rising globally at the joint-highest pace since June 2024. The upturn for the goods producing sector was driven by the fastest rise in new orders in nearly a year. Meanwhile global services activity growth also accelerated from December, but the rate of expansion remained subdued compared to the fourth quarter average.

While the stronger economic expansion offered early hopes that the resilient growth over much of 2025 had carried through to the new year, there remain worrying signs, notably in the form of subdued business confidence. Concerns over geopolitical uncertainties, often linked to US policy and tariffs, kept sentiment levels below average at the start of the year, and also resulted in another month of only marginal jobs growth. Additionally, global output price inflation intensified in January as costs continued to rise at an elevated pace, posing further risks to the recovery in demand.

Purchasing Managers' Index™ (PMI^®) data are compiled by S&P Global for more than 40 economies worldwide. The monthly data are derived from surveys of senior executives at private sector companies, and are available only via subscription. The PMI dataset features a headline number, which indicates the overall health of an economy, and sub-indices, which provide insights into other key economic drivers such as GDP, inflation, exports, capacity utilization, employment and inventories. The PMI data are used by financial and corporate professionals to better understand where economies and markets are headed, and to uncover opportunities.

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.