- Anthony Nieves
US services sector activity rose at the slowest pace in six months in December, sparking concerns over the economic outlook heading into 2015. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing PMI dropped 3.1 percentage points to 56.2 in December, down from 59.3 registered in the previous month and compared to Wall Street's forecast for a 58.2 reading. The reported highlighted subdued cost pressure, due to plummeting oil prices, with the survey price index declining to 49.5 compared with November's 54.4, the first drop in input prices since September 2009. The ISM's new orders index fell to 58.9 last month from 61.4 in November. The ISM business activity/production index fell to 57.2 from 64.4, while the employment index slid to 56.0 down from 56.7 in November, a sign that the services sector was still employing at a strong pace in December. The Labor Department is due to release the December payrolls report Friday, 9 January. Analysts predict a solid gain of 240,000 new non-farm jobs, compared with 321,000 positions added in November.
A separate report from Markit Group also suggested that service activity was growing at a slower pace at the end of 2014, moving further away from June's high of 61.0. Markit Group's monthly gauge of US service activity dropped 2.9 percentage points to 53.3, the lowest level since February of last year.
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