PARIS (Reuters) – Growth in service sector activity in the United States accelerated in January, more strongly than expected, shows the monthly survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) published on Monday, which also indicates a collapse in new orders.
The ISM services index stood at 53.4 after 50.5 (revised from 50.6) in December.
Economists polled by Reuters on average expected a figure of 52.0, the 50 mark separating growth and contraction in activity.
The paid prices subindex, however, jumped to 64.0 points, an 11-month high, from 57.4 in December.
Some economists consider the ISM subindex of prices paid in services to be a good leading indicator of personal consumption expenditure (PCE) inflation.
Employment in the sector improved to 50.5 in January from 43.8 (revised from 43.3) the previous month.
The component of new orders received by service companies increased from 52.8 to 55.0 in January.
On Wall Street, the indices increased their losses after the publication of this statistic, a sign of a still dynamic economy which removes the prospect of a reduction in the Fed’s key rates: the Dow Jones lost 0.69%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 0.37% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.38%.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Sophie Louet)
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