US Services Sector Growth Ticks Down – Employment Ticks

US Non-Manufacturing PMI dropped to 56 points, a bit lower than expected . Early expectations stood on a minor slide from a strong 57.3 points in February to 56.9 points now.

The upside is that the employment component rose from 55.7 to 56.7 points – a positive sign for the Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

The US dollar is marginally weaker. EUR/USD is regaining some of the early losses that it got by Draghi and edged up towards 1.3140. USD/JPY is sliding within range.

The services sector is the vast majority of the US economy, making this figure of high importance.

Inventories rose from 53.5 to 54 points. New orders dropped from 61.2 to 58.8. Prices dropped from 68.4 to 63.9 (still strong growth).

50 points separate between growth and contraction. This is the 27th consecutive month of growth in this sector.

Earlier this week, the manufacturing sector PMI met early expectations that cleared doubts. In addition, the employment component was better than expected.

Another important employment-related figure was released today: ADP Non-Farm Payrolls showed a gain of 209K jobs – a healthy rise within expectations. Last month’s number was revised to the upside.