U.S. manufacturing expanded in August, a partial relief from ongoing economic concerns. The Institute for Supply Management index, or ISM, was 50.6 in August. Numbers higher than 50 represent expansion. This is partly due to lower commodity prices and some recovery from setbacks caused by Japan's natural disaster.

The ISM index is based on surveys of more than 300 manufacturing firms. It reviews employment, production, new orders, deliveries and inventories and creates a composite index.Using the ISM data, investors can research national economic conditions. If the index increases, stockmarkets should generally increase because of higher company profits. On the other hand, bonds will usually go down because of inflation.