A large chunk of the US economy grew in November at a record pace, ISM finds
A new survey shows that service-oriented businesses such as banks, retailers and drug stores in November grew at the fastest pace on record, even as companies struggled with There was a huge shortage of labor and supplies.
The Supply Management Institute’s services PMI rose from 66.7% in October to 69.1% last month, marking the biggest increase on record. The survey results date back to 1997.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expect the index to fall to 65%.
Any number above 50% has an extended signal, and numbers above 60% are special.
In a rare instance, all 18 service sectors tracked by ISM reported growth in November.
Demand is not an issue. Americans are still spending a lot of money these days after suffering an early pandemic.
The biggest problem is providing all the services that customers want. Companies can’t find enough people to fill a near-record number of open jobs. They have also struggled to obtain much-needed supplies.
Read: November’s 210,000 new jobs mark the worst headline number for 2021 — but there are bright spots
Shortages have pushed up wages and prices and contributed to the sharpest rise in inflation in the US in 31 years.
“Witnessing inflationary forces in the market, leading suppliers to raise prices in 2022,” said a finance company executive.
Some executives say the worst of the supply chain bottlenecks may be easing, but they expect the problem to continue.
“Supply chain issues persist, but we are evolving to fix or manage them better than before,” said another executive.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-huge-part-of-the-u-s-economy-grew-in-november-at-a-record-pace-ism-finds-11638544229?rss=1&siteid=rss A large chunk of the US economy grew in November at a record pace, ISM finds
