NEW YORK - U.S. business activity showed little change in September, with the vast services sector essentially idling at the slowest pace since February, and overall new order activitySaltWire's Atlantic regional weather forecast for September 22, 2023 | SaltWireNEW YORK - U.S.
The survey's composite new orders index slid to the lowest since December at 47.7 from 49.2 last month, marking the second straight month of declining new business. Input cost pressures ticked higher for a second month as well. At the same time, the Fed left interest rates unchanged but indicated borrowing costs will remain high well into next year, which could hamper the economy's progress from here. Indeed, a range of indicators in the last month have signaled momentum is slowing, and Friday's PMI figures buttressed that view.
The survey's services PMI edged down to an eight-month low of 50.2, fractionally lower than the reading of 50.6 expected by economists in a Reuters poll. S&P's manufacturing PMI ticked higher to 48.9 from 47.9 in August but was still the fifth straight month of contraction. Economists had forecast a manufacturing PMI of 48.0.