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P. 7
U.S. NEWS A7
Thursday 5 November 2015
US Financial Front:
Private survey: Growth of US services sector surged in Oct.
JOSH BOAK sures services and manu- Bryan White breads chicken breast prior to frying it in the kitch- The business activity mea-
AP Economics Writer facturing has reached its en of a new Chick-fil-A restaurant, in New York. The Institute for sure rose to 63. Employ-
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. widest point in roughly 14 Supply Management released its service sector index for Octo- ment advanced to 59.2.
services companies grew years. ber on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015. These gains indicate that
at an accelerated pace in The stronger dollar has services firms anticipate ris-
October as business activi- hamstrung the exports of (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) ing sales.
ty, new orders and employ- U.S. goods by making them “We’re entering the
ment all strengthened, sug- more expensive abroad. fourth quarter on a very
gesting that the economy Lower oil prices have also high note,” said Anthony
is building momentum from led energy firms to halt drill- Nieves, chair of the ISM’s
consumer demand in the ing activity. These setbacks non-manufacturing busi-
final months of 2015. led the ISM’s manufactur- ness survey committee.
The Institute for Supply Man- ing index to fall to 50.1 last The ISM is a trade group of
agement said Wednes- month, meaning that fac- purchasing managers. Its
day that its services index tory activity is barely im- services survey covers busi-
climbed to 59.1 last month proving. nesses that employ 90 per-
from 56.9 in September. The dual ISM reports high- cent of workers, including
Any reading above 50 sig- light “the two-speed econ- construction firms and fi-
nals expansion. omy where manufacturing nancial services. q
The figures raise the pros- continues to run at an un-
pect that consumer spend- impressive pace while the
ing will anchor growth services side of the econo-
during the October-De- my shows signs of strength,”
cember quarter at a time said Bricklin Dwyer, a senior
when manufacturing, hurt economist at BNP Paribas.
by global economic turbu- New orders at services firms
lence, has slowed. The gap rose to a reading of 62, up
between how the ISM mea- from 56.7 in September.
ADP Survey: US businesses
added 182K jobs in October
PAUL WISEMAN turers have been hurt by a
AP Economics Writer strong dollar and econom-
WASHINGTON (AP) — ic weakness overseas. ADP
American businesses add- reported that factories
ed a solid but unspectacu- shed 2,000 jobs in October
lar 182,000 jobs in October, on top of a loss of 17,000
according to a private sur- jobs in September.
vey. “We suspect the strength
In a report Wednesday, of the dollar remains a
payroll processor ADP also constraint on factory pay-
revised September job rolls, along with lower pe-
creation down to 190,000 troleum prices negatively
from an originally reported impacting on oil drilling
200,000. and related equipment,”
American consumers are Raymond Stone of Stone
spending at healthy levels, McCarthy Research wrote
encouraged by increased in a research report.
job security, low energy The government will issue its
prices and improved fam- official jobs report for Octo-
ily finances. But manufac- ber on Friday. q
