FX.co ★ U.S. Services PMI Unexpectedly Indicates Contraction In April

The U.S. service sector's activity, growing uninterrupted for fifteen months, surprisingly shrunk in April, as reported by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Friday. The ISM announced a decrease in its Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) from 51.4 in March to 49.4 in April. Since the PMI reading fell below 50, this signifies a contraction within the sector. Contrary to this unexpected decline, economists had predicted a slight increase in the index to 52.0. This marked the service sector's first contraction since December 2022, which was unintended.