WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed in April and employment there contracted as prices continued to rise, the monthly survey showed on Wednesday. Institute for Supply Management with purchasing managers.
Its activity index fell to 57.1 from 58.3 in March, while economists polled by Reuters on average expected a figure up slightly, to 58.5.
This unexpected slowdown could result from supply difficulties, amplified recently by new health restrictions in China and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The new orders component of the ISM survey fell to 54.6 from 60.1 in March and that of employment fell to 49.5 from 54.0, returning below the 50 threshold separating contraction and expansion for the second time since the beginning of the year.
That of prices paid by service companies, on the contrary, continued to soar to register a new all-time high at 84.6 after 83.8 in March.
Another survey of service purchasing managers, that of S&P Global, shows a slowdown in growth in the sector with an index down to 55.6 after 58.0 in March.
(Report Lucia Mutikani, French version Marc Angrand, edited by Kate Entringer)
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