The data are compiled from the results of the quarterly Business Expectations Survey of the Services Sector. The objective of the survey is to obtain the business outlook for the immediate future of firms in the services sector. The firms’ views are expressed in terms of directional change(i.e. "up", "same" or "down"). These responses are then weighted and aggregated to derive the weighted percentages for "up", "same" or "down" for each industry. The net weighted balance, which is calculated by the differences between the weighted percentages of "ups" and "downs" is used to indicated the likely overall direction of change of a particular industry.