ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI Disappoints and Drops to to 53.5

The US Servies sector disappoints: ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI dropped from 56 to 53.5 points, lower than a small slide to 55.5 that was expected.

Also the employment component falls from 56.7 to 54.2 points. This is still in growth territory, but quite worrying: the services sector is the largest in the US economy.

The dollar slides together with the indicator: EUR/USD ticks higher.

The report shows that inventory remained unchanged, new orders fell significantly to 53.5, price rises fell dramatically to 53.6 and the backlog of orders went from small contraction to small growth.

Note that all these figures, that are above 50 points, point to growth. 50 is the border between growth and contraction.

Other job figures towards the NFP:

• ISM Manufacturing PMI came out better than expected earlier in the week, and more importantly, the employment component moved higher, in the “strong growth” territory.
• The ADP report for the private sector disappointed with a gain of only 119K, much lower than expected.
• Weekly jobless claims finally returned to the previous range, falling from a revised high of 392K last week to 365K this time.

See how to trade the Non-Farm Payrolls with EUR/USD.