U.S. August Services PMI Final Slightly Below Preliminary Reading, Future Economic Growth Still Faces Downside Risks

BlockBeats News, September 4th, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said that despite the final value of the U.S. services PMI being lower than the initial value and below the July level, the August service sector data is still the second strongest so far this year. Coupled with the strong performance of the manufacturing PMI, these survey results indicate that the U.S. economy is expected to achieve a 2.4% annualized growth rate in the third quarter.

At the same time, the orders more reflect the rise in summer customer demand, prompting more and more service providers to recruit new employees, and the manufacturing industry has also resumed hiring. However, the current positive news on growth and hiring has been overshadowed by concerns about the outlook for future development and inflation. Survey data show some downside risks to economic growth in the coming months, along with upside risks to inflation as import tariffs have passed through to goods and services prices. (Jin10)