U.S. Service Providers Expand Fastest Since 2005

Service providers such as retailers and construction firms expanded in August at the fastest pace in nine years, pointing to greater momentum in the economy that’s generating jobs and brightening Americans’ spirits.

The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index climbed to 59.6, the highest since August 2005, from 58.7 a month earlier, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today. Bloomberg’s weekly measure of consumer sentiment rose to the second-highest level in a year and filings for unemployment benefits were little changed, other figures showed.

The improvement at service providers was broad-based and, combined with faster manufacturing growth, raises the odds of a self-supporting cycle of more spending and job gains that could further propel the expansion. Shifting the world’s largest economy into a higher gear depends in part on a pickup in worker pay that has been elusive.

Bloomberg

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