US business activity growth slowed for a second successive month in September, according to early ‘flash’ PMI data, accompanied by a softening of demand growth. While growth was again seen across both manufacturing and service sectors, both categories reported weakened expansions, leading to slower hiring in both cases. Tariffs were meanwhile again widely cited as the main cause of sharply higher costs, but weaker demand and stiff competition reportedly limited the scope to raise selling prices, which rose on average at the slowest rate since April. Slower than expected sales reportedly also contributed to the ... (full story)