US ISM non-manufacturing index: Another soft reading despite strong NFP - Wells Fargo
Analysts at Wells Fargo point out that the expansion in the services sector slowed in April according to the latest ISM non-manufacturing index, which fell for a second straight month to 55.5, the lowest number since August 2017.
Key Quotes:
“Any number above 50 still signals expansion, but things have certainly cooled off since the non-manufacturing ISM hit a 13-year high of 60.8 back in September. Taken together with Wednesday’s report that the manufacturing ISM slipped to more than a 2-year low of 52.8, survey data indicate a slowing that is curiously out of step with the solid jobs report & firmer consumer spending reported earlier this week.”
“In perhaps the most glaring example of variation between hard and soft data, the employment component of today’s ISM nonmanufacturing showed a 2.2 point decline to 2-year low of 53.7 just 90 minutes after the Labor Department reported job growth for the same month that beat even the highest published forecast.”
Author
Matías Salord
FXStreet
Matías started in financial markets in 2008, after graduating in Economics. He was trained in chart analysis and then became an educator. He also studied Journalism. He started writing analyses for specialized websites before joining FXStreet.
