제조업 이어 서비스업 글로벌 경기도 흔들<br /><br />The U.S. services sector joined manufacturing in taking a big step back last month.<br />This is fueling concerns of a global economic slowdown.<br />Kim Hyesung help us look beyond the digits.<br />The U.S. services sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, grew at its slowest pace in three years in September, adding to a recent string of weak economic data.<br />The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index dropped 3-point-eight points to 52-point-six last month, the lowest since August 2016.<br />ISM said “respondents are mostly concerned about tariffs, labour resources and the direction of the economy.”<br />Although the index remains above the threshold of 50 that separates expansion from contraction, September’s result undershot the median forecast of 55-point-one in a survey of economists by Reuters.<br />The data comes after ISM reported on Tuesday that U.S. manufacturing activity plunged in September to its lowest level in more than a decade.<br />The weakening in U.S. services and manufacturing sector growth is mirroring developments in Europe.<br />According to IHS Markit, the Eurozone Services Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 51-point-six last month.<br />Germany's Services PMI dropped to a three-year low.<br />France, the UK and Spain all saw their services PMI fall on-month in September.<br />The Eurozone Manufacturing PMI also fell to the lowest level since October 2012.<br />The World Trade Organization had warned last month that the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute, until now largely confined to manufacturing, may be expanding to the trade in services, which could further drag on global economic growth.<br />The WTO expected volumes of traded goods to rise 1-point-two percent this year last Tuesday, far lower than the two-point-six percent estimate it issued in April.<br />Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.<br />
