ISM Says Services Activity Cooled to 54.9 in September from 55.4
The reading would mark a sixth straight month of expansion, according to the Institute for Supply Management, though broader September details were not immediately available.
Published
The Institute for Supply Management said its Services PMI eased to 54.9 in September, down from 55.4 in August. ISM had described August's 55.4 reading as the 26th consecutive month the services sector spent in expansion, with new orders at 57.2 that month.
Within that report, new orders rose to 55.3 from 53.7 and employment climbed to 52.7 from 51.2, while production cooled to 56.7 from 58.3. The ISM Manufacturing Prices Index jumped to 77.9 from 71.1, a 6.8 percentage point increase, according to ISM's own report.
If the services figure holds, it would keep that sector in expansion for a sixth straight month, but at a softer pace than August. Services have carried much of the economy's momentum this year while manufacturing has struggled, so a softer headline number would narrow that gap rather than reverse it. The release lands ahead of the next round of Fed commentary, where officials are expected to weigh whether demand is cooling enough to ease inflation pressure without tipping into contraction. No breakdown of which components, prices, orders or employment, drove the September change was available.