The Purchasing Managers Index, used to gauge manufacturing and economic health on point scale, shows that 2012 will not be a strong year.

FORBES: Higher Copper Output Expected In 2012, Imports Will Slow -- Jones

As a result, many people point to small-business statistics as a gauge of the impact of private companies, since many small businesses are private.

FORBES: Private companies pull economy along

But the gauge for service industries plunged to only just above 50, the point at which more managers report a fall than a rise in activity.

ECONOMIST: Europe's economies