US Services Sector Dips But Hiring Still Positive

The pace of expansion in the U.S. services sector eased from a seven-month high in April on a dip in new business growth, but hiring in the sector accelerated to its highest since June, an industry report showed on Tuesday.

Financial firm Markit said its final reading of its Purchasing Managers Index for the services sector slipped to 57.4 in April, a level that was down from both the preliminary April read of 57.8, as well as the final March read of 59.2. March’s level was the highest since August.

A reading over 50 signals expansion in economic activity.

 
Markit’s April reading of employment at services companies, meanwhile, rose to a 10-month high of 55.0 from March’s 54.0. However, this was below the preliminary reading of 55.4.

The services index’s new business component pulled back from the month before, when it had notched its highest level since September.

Markit’s composite PMI, a weighted average of its manufacturing and services indexes, fell to 57.0 from 59.2 in March. The preliminary reading was 57.4. Last week, Markit’s final read on U.S. manufacturing activity showed slower growth in April.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza