The mythical Obama Boom continues to produce bad data. Service sector demand and factory orders both declined in June.
The pace of growth in the U.S. services sector ticked down unexpectedly in July to the lowest level since February 2010 as new orders received by U.S. factories also fell in June, according to reports released Wednesday.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services index fell to 52.7 last month from 53.3 in June. The reading fell shy of economists’ forecasts for 53.6, according to a Reuters survey.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. The new orders gauge slipped to 51.7 from 53.6, while employment fell to 52.5 from 54.1.
“It is slightly weaker than expected, most of the key gauges were down. It looks like this confirms that we are in a bit of a soft patch here,” said Rudy Narvas, senior economist at Societe Generale in New York.
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The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods fell 0.8 percent after a revised 0.6 percent increase in May. Economists had forecast a 0.7 percent decline after a previously reported 0.8 percent rise.
Who are these economists that the media claims expect good data? ARe they a
