Key Takeaways from the ISM Services Report | Episode 054 | 10-04-23

Megan unpacks the recent ISM Services report, a pivotal measure of the US service sector. This sector accounts for a significant portion of our expenditures, so any shifts in its performance are crucial. Despite remaining in expansion territory, there was a noticeable decline in September. Megan reviews the data, highlighting concerning drops in new orders and employment—both of which serve as leading indicators for consumer spending and the labor market. Stay informed about these subtle yet impactful changes that could influence the economic landscape in the upcoming months. 

hello this is Megan Horneman the Chief Investment Officer for Verdence Capital Advisors coming to you today with our regular segment of Markets with Megan and we're going to discuss the ism Services report that came out um the ism Services report this measures the activity in the service sector of the US economy the service sector is the biggest part of what we spend our money on um is on services and unfortunately while this indicator's been really one of the bright spots in the economy we did see at fall uh in the month of September still an expansion territory so it's not awful but it did decline for the month and what's more concerning is some of the big drops that we saw in new orders that was a significant drop and then also employment the employment component declined as well these two are leading indicators on a couple things obviously consumer spending as well as the labor market um a lot of the additions to the labor market since the pandemic have been in the service sector and we're now starting to see that weekend um so this is again it's an okay report not awful not great um but some of the underlying indicators that don't get talked about are showing some weakness that we may see filter into the bigger numbers like the employment data as well as consumer spending um numbers in the in the coming months that's all we have today if you have any questions please feel re free to reach out to podcast at verdence.com thank you