- Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit
The US services sector, which accounts for more than 79% of the nation's private-sector GDP, expanded at a slower pace in September than expected, as new orders and business activity faltered, indicating that the sector might not be immune to turmoil abroad. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing purchasing managers index dropped to 56.9 in the reported month from 59 in August and 60.3 in July. The July figure was the highest level on records dated back to January 2008. The business activity sub-index slid to the lowest level in four months of 60.2, while the new orders component showed a more pronounced decline, plunging by 6.7 points to 56.7. In contrast, the employment measure rose by 2.3 points to 58.3. The gauge recorded the highest level in the third quarter of 2015 since records began in 1997, averaging 58.0.
At the same time, the financial firm Markit reported that its final reading of PMI for the services sector slid to 55.1 in September, compared with August's final 56.1. The US economy was expected to slow down to around 2.2% in the third quarter according to PMI surveys. Moreover, it remained unclear whether growth would slow further in the final three-month period of the year.
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