Economy

U.S. Service Sector Growth Slows Before the Presidential Election

Service sector employee, nurse at a hospital. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Non-Manufacturing Report on Business, the Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of service-sector growth fell to 54.8 last month from 57.1 in September. The reading missed the median forecast calling for a reading of 56.

Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while those below point to contraction.

The report comes before the U.S. presidential election, in which the economy has largely been drown out by personal attacks from both sides. In truth, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has done her best to distract from the issue, which voters trust Donald Trump more on by substantial margins.

The 13 service sector industries reporting growth in October — listed in order — are: Transportation & Warehousing; Construction; Other Services; Management of Companies & Support Services; Information; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Real Estate, Rental & Leasing; Wholesale Trade; Utilities; Finance & Insurance; Retail Trade; Accommodation & Food Services; and Health Care & Social Assistance.

The 5service sector industries reporting contraction in October are: Educational Services; Mining; Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting; Public Administration; and Arts, Entertainment & Recreation.

ISM^® NON-MANUFACTURING SURVEY RESULTS AT A GLANCE COMPARISON OF ISM^® NON-MANUFACTURING AND ISM^® MANUFACTURING SURVEYS* OCTOBER 2016
	Non-Manufacturing						Manufacturing
Index	Series Index Oct	Series Index Sep	Percent Point Change	Direction	Rate of Change	Trend** (Months)	Series Index Oct	Series Index Sep	Percent Point Change
NMI^®/PMI^®	54.8	57.1	-2.3	Growing	Slower	81	51.9	51.5	+0.4
Business Activity/Production	57.7	60.3	-2.6	Growing	Slower	87	54.6	52.8	+1.8
New Orders	57.7	60.0	-2.3	Growing	Slower	87	52.1	55.1	-3.0
Employment	53.1	57.2	-4.1	Growing	Slower	5	52.9	49.7	+3.2
Supplier Deliveries	50.5	51.0	-0.5	Slowing	Slower	10	52.2	50.3	+1.9
Inventories	52.0	51.5	+0.5	Growing	Faster	2	47.5	49.5	-2.0
Prices	56.6	54.0	+2.6	Increasing	Faster	7	54.5	53.0	+1.5
Backlog of Orders	52.0	52.0	0.0	Growing	Same	2	45.5	49.5	-4.0
New Export Orders	55.5	56.5	-1.0	Growing	Slower	2	52.5	52.0	+0.5
Imports	53.0	51.0	+2.0	Growing	Faster	9	52.0	49.0	+3.0
Inventory Sentiment	62.0	64.5	-2.5	Too High	Slower	233	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers’ Inventories	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	49.5	53.0	-3.5
Overall Economy				Growing	Slower	87
Non-Manufacturing Sector				Growing	Slower	81

* Non-Manufacturing ISM^® Report On Business^® data is seasonally adjusted for Business Activity, New Orders, Prices and Employment Indexes. Manufacturing ISM^® Report On Business^® data is seasonally adjusted for New Orders, Production, Employment and Supplier Deliveries.

** Number of months moving in current direction.

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PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.