U.S. non-manufacturing sector’s growth decelerates slightly less than anticipated in August - ISM

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported on Friday that its non-manufacturing index (NMI) came in at 61.7 in August, which was 2.4 percentage points lower than the all-time high reading of 64.1 in July. The latest reading pointed to the growth in the services sector for the 15th straight month.

Economists forecast the index to decrease to 61.5 last month. A reading above 50 signals expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Of the 18 services industries, 17 reported gains last month, the ISM said, even though the tight labor market, materials shortages, inflation and logistics issues continue to cause capacity constraints.

According to the report, the ISM’s non-manufacturing Production measure plunged 6.9 percentage points to 60.1 percent from the August reading, while its New Orders gauge decreased 0.5 percentage point to 63.2 percent and the Employment indicator edged down 0.1 percentage point to 53.7 percent. Elsewhere, the Supplier Deliveries index fell 2.4 percentage points to 69.6 percent, while the Inventories indicator dropped 2.3 percentage points to 46.9 percent. On the price front, the Prices index declined 6.9 percentage points to 75.4 percent.

Commenting on the data, the Chair of the ISM Services Business Survey Committee, Anthony Nieves, noted, “The past relationship between the Services PMI and the overall economy indicates that the Services PM for August (61.7 percent) corresponds to a 4.4-percent increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) on an annualized basis."