US services sector saw slower growth in Dec 2021

Washington, Jan 7 The US services sector posted strong growth in December 2021 amid continued supply chain disruptions and high inflation, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported.

The Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) registered 62 per cent, 7.1 percentage points below November's all-time high reading of 69.1 percent, according to the latest Services ISM Report on Business released on Thursday.

Any reading above 50 per cent indicates the services sector is generally expanding, reports Xinhua news agency.

The New Orders Index registered 61.5 per cent, 8.2 percentage points lower than the all-time high reading of 69.7 per cent reported in November, according to the ISM report.

A business executive from the utilities industry, meanwhile, noted that "we continue to experience supply chain disruptions across the nation and around the globe, resulting in raw material and subcomponent shortages, longer manufacturer lead times, transportation resource constraints, labour pool issues and significant price increases".

The ISM report showed that the Prices Index reached its third-highest reading ever at 82.5 per cent, up 0.2 percentage point from the November figure.

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