The growth of the service sector in the U.S. surprisingly slowed down in March as per a report released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Wednesday. The ISM reported a decrease in its services PMI, dropping to 51.4 in March from 52.6 in February. Though any reading above 50 indicates a continued growth, economists had anticipated the index to slightly rise to 52.7.
Within the overall decrease, a contributing factor was a reduced rate of growth in new orders. The new orders index for March fell to 54.4, down from February's 56.1. This unexpected decrease in growth in the headline index partially reflects this slowdown.
