ISM’s purchasing managers’ index for the services (non-manufacturing) sector stands at 54.7 points in November. Early expectations stood on a slide from 54.2 to 53.6 points.
However, the employment component dropped to 50.3 points, hardly above the 50 point mark separating growth from contraction. This is a worrying sign towards the Non-Farm Payrolls. The employment component stood on 54.9 points last month.
The positive figure within this report is a leap in new orders: 58.1 points.
In addition, the US also reported factory orders, which surprised with a rise of 0.8%, significantly better than no change that was expected.
This indicator and especially the employment component, provide good hints for the Non-Farm Payrolls. Here are more hints:
- ADP reported a gain of 118K jobs in the private sector during November, with a minimal revision to the month of October. This was within expectations.
- Earlier in the week, ISM reported a very disappointing PMI for the manufacturing sector: only 49.5 points, with a drop of the employment component to 48.4 points. Both figures were last seen in mid-2009.
Further reading:Â US recession already in play? One lone voice continues insisting
