US ISM services sector PMI holds up in August

A survey of the US services sector showed that activity held up in August, but companies' responses appeared to be decidedly mixed.

The Institute for Supply Management's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index ticked up from 51.4 in July to 51.5 for last month.

Economists had been anticipating a dip to 51.1.

A key gauge of new orders improved from 52.4 to 53.0 while that tracking employment slipped from 51.1 to 50.2.

Another subindex linked to the prices paid by firms meanwhile inched up from 57.0 to 57.3.

The ISM highlighted positive responses from purchasing managers in the Agriculture, Finance, Health Care and Information sectors.

Those in Construction, Support services, Utilities, and Wholesale Trade were downbeat.

"Hiring of employees, contractors and consultants continues to decline as companies look to control costs during a period of economic and political uncertainty. Employee layoffs continue across a broad range of companies and industries," a manager from the Management of Companies & Support Services sector told ISM.

Commenting on the latest PMI figures, Michael Pearce at Oxford Economics said: "As has been the case for most of the past two years, the hard data that feed into GDP show the economy is more resilient in Q3 than the survey data suggest."