U.S. services sector slows, jobless claims up

U.S. services sector activity slowed in November but remained at levels consistent with a steady pace of economic growth for the fourth quarter, a business survey showed on Thursday.

Other data reported a small increase in first-time applications for unemployment benefits last week, but planned job cuts announced by companies in November were the fewest in 14 months.

With the labor market showing resilience, economists say it is almost certain the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at the Dec. 15-16 meeting for the first time in nearly a decade.

“It will take some pretty bad economic numbers for the Fed to pull back from the brink,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers on Thursday that the U.S. central bank was close to lifting its key overnight interest rate from near zero. Yellen gave an upbeat view of the economy, saying “growth is likely to be sufficient over the next year or two to result in further improvement in the labor market.”

The U.S. Institute for Supply Management on Thursday said its index of non-manufacturing activity fell to 55.9 last month from a reading of 59.1 in October. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the service sector.

The new orders index dropped fell 4.5 points to 57.5 last month. There were also declines in measures of services sector employment, backlogs and export orders. Deliveries are slowing and inventories are still considered high which could constrain order growth in the months ahead.

Twelve services industries, including real estate, retail, transportation and warehousing, finance and insurance, and public administration reported growth last month. The six industries reporting contraction included wholesale trade, utilities and agriculture.

The report came after news this week from ISM that the manufacturing sector contracted in November for the first time in three years. Still, economists said the soft services sector survey did not signal a slowdown in gross domestic product growth from the third quarter’s 2.1 percent annual rate.

“Even after this drop off, the latest figure was still consistent with real GDP growth of around 2.25 percent,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

There was little market reaction to the U.S. economic data, but the U.S. dollar dropped to a near one-month low against the euro after the European Central Bank unveiled a smaller interest rate cut and bond purchases than investors had anticipated. U.S. stocks and Treasury debt prices were trading lower.