The government shutdown means no 'official' economic data, but we continue to get numbers from other organisations. Today’s ISM services index for September has come in weaker than predicted, dropping from 52 (growth territory) to 50 (consistent with flat activity). The consensus prediction was 51.7, but the outcome was actually below all individual survey responses provided to Bloomberg. The details show business activity dropping to 49.9 from 55.0. This is the worst outcome since the shutdown period of the pandemic in May 2020, while new orders fell from 56.0 to 50.4. The employment component rose to 47.2 from ... (full story)