The US service sector tumbled in Feburary to a four-year low thanks in part to a nasty winter.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its service index fell to 51.6 in February, down from its 54% January reading. Analysts had predicted a small drop to 53.5. This marks the 50th consecutive month of growth. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding.
The US service sector growth picked up in January after two months of slower growth.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its service index grew to 54% in January, up from its 53% December reading. This narrowly beat expectations of 53.7 from forecasters surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. This marks the 49th consecutive month of growth. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York this month began publishing the Business Leaders Survey covering service firms in New York, northern New Jersey, and southwestern Connecticut. The new survey makes sense for a region of the U.S. that is more closely connected to finance, tourism, and media than it is to manufacturing.
Cybercrime is on the rise. In the past, you only needed to worry about pickpockets or losing your wallet. You knew could cancel your credit cards the next day and not have to worry much. Today criminals are focused on stealing millions of identities at a time. This is proved by Target's recent data breach of up to 110 million customers' data including credit card numbers, PIN numbers, names and addresses. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 7% of people aged 16 or over were victims of identity theft in 2012. This translates into over 12 million Americans who had to deal with the hassle of the aftermath. Identity theft resulted in over $21 billion in costs to victims and businesses. Today your data may be floating around the black market and you don't know when the actual identity theft will occur. 15% of identity theft victims don't know until 4 or more years has past.
The US service sector slowed again in December but more alarmingly new orders contracted for the first time since 2009.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its service index fell to 53% in November, a decrease from its 53.9% November reading. This missed expectatoins of 54.5 from forecasters surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. This marks the 48th consecutive month of growth. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding.
The US service sector firms grew at the weakest pace since June, evidence that consumers and businesses are more cautious heading into year end.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reported that its service index fell to 53.9% in November, a decrease from its 55.4% October reading. This marks the 47th consecutive month of growth. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding.