Just like its manufacturing counterpart last week, the July release of the ISM Non-Manufacturing survey came in shy of consensus expectations. While economists were expecting the headline reading to increase slightly from 55.1 to 55.5, the actual reading came in at 53.7. That's a level that is still consistent with steady growth, but it is also the weakest reading since August 2016. Similarly, on a combined basis and accounting for each sector's share in the economy, the combined Composite PMI for July came in at 53.4, which was the lowest reading since August 2016.
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