Mighty US Services Sector Steams Along

American manufacturing may be mired in a downturn, but the mighty US services sector most assuredly isn't. On a day when a report on private sector hiring suggested leisure and hospitality businesses added nearly a quarter of a million new jobs last month, ISM's gauge of services sector activity printed ahead of estimates and underlying measures of demand were solid. At 53.9, the headline print for June rose nearly four points from May and exceeded every estimate from five-dozen economists. Th