ISM Services Plunged In November, Employment Crashed

Despite yesterday’s Services PMI acceleration (as opposed to Manufacturing PMI’s declines), analysts expected this morning’s ISM Services survey print for December to slide lower (trending the same direction as the weakness in ‘hard’ data). Instead it tumbled from 52.7 to 50.6 (52.5 exp) – the lowest since May 2023…

Source: Bloomberg

“The services sector had a pullback in the rate of growth in December, attributed to the decrease in the rate of growth for new orders and contraction in employment,” said Anthony Nieves, CPSM, C.P.M., A.P.P., CFPM, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) Services Business Survey Committee.

Prices slowed modestly (good news), but new orders dropped (still in expansion though), while employment crashed into the deepest contraction since the COVID lockdowns…

Source: Bloomberg

“Respondents’ comments vary by both company and industry. There are concerns related to economic uncertainty, geopolitical events and labor constraints,” Neieves added.

Is bad news, good news for stocks? Is this terrible ‘soft’ data bad enough to offset the ‘good’ headline data from payrolls?