US: March sees slowest growth of US service sector for six months - Markit

Growth of the US service sector was maintained during March, albeit to a lesser degree than in the previous month as volumes of incoming business rose at a slower rate, said Markit in its official U.S. Services PMI report. 

Key findings:

• Demand reported to be rising at slower rate
• Companies able to comfortably deal with new and existing business
• Modest expansion of payroll numbers

Commenting on the PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said: “The March PMI numbers add to the picture of a relatively modest opening quarter to 2017 for the US economy. The surveys of manufacturing and services are running at levels consistent with GDP expanding by 1.7% in the first quarter."

“Growth of business activity appears to have peaked in January, sliding to a six-month low in March."

“The loss of momentum is linked to weaker inflows of new work, with the surveys providing some evidence that demand is being dented in part by higher prices."