US non-manufacturing ISM jumps to highest level in 1 year

In February, the US non-manufacturing ISM extended its rebound rising to the highest level in one year. The non-manufacturing ISM rose from 56.8 to 57.3, while the consensus was looking for a slight correction after the impressive jump in January. Also the details are strong as business activity (62.6 from 59.5), new orders (61.2 from 59.4), backlog of orders (53.0 from 49.5), inventory change (53.5 from 47.0) and inventory sentiment (61.5 from 58.5) improved. Supplier deliveries (49.5 from 51.0), employment (55.7 from 57.4), new export orders (54.5 from 56.5) and imports (52.0 from 55.0) weakened slightly in February. Costs accelerated in February as prices paid picked up from 63.5 to 68.4 in February. Since the start of the year, the US services sector gathered further pace, suggesting that the recovery is becoming more broad-based and raising expectations that growth will further accelerate. The manufacturing ISM disappointed this month, but we believe this was due to seasonal adjustment factors and expect therefore a rebound in March.