A Tale Of Two Services Surveys

The US services sector put on the brakes last month. Or sped up. It depends on which survey you consult. In a development that reflected slower demand, but also improving supplier performance, ISM's gauge of US services sector activity printed 51.2 for March, close to the demarcation line separating expansion from contraction, and well below expectations. Consensus was 54.4, and the range of estimates was 50-56, from nearly five-dozen economists who ventured a guess. Outside of December's anom