(CercleFinance.com) – The growth of the tertiary sector in the United States slowed more sharply than expected in December, show the results of the monthly survey of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released Thursday.
This service sector index – compiled from a survey of purchasing managers – fell to 62 last month from 69.1 in November, an all-time high since the inception of the statistical.
Economists were forecasting a smaller drop, to around 67.
The new orders sub-index suffered the most severe decline, losing 8.2 points to 61.5 from 69.7 the previous month.
The ISM stresses, however, that the component of deliveries-suppliers stood at 63.9 last month against 75.7 in November, recalling in passing that a figure above 50 points testifies to a slowdown in deliveries, a phenomenon that ‘he considers characteristic of a phase of improvement in the economy due to the increase in consumer demand.
The institute specifies that it has been 19 consecutive months that the ISM of services has entered growth territory (above 50 points) and 10 months that it has exceeded the level of 60 points.
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