The U.S. service sector activity accelerated in October, with new orders showing steady growth, but employment still remains weak.

In October, the pace of service sector activity in the United States accelerated, mainly driven by solid growth in new orders, but employment remained weak, indicating that the labor market continues to struggle amidst economic uncertainty caused by import tariffs. The Institute for Supply Management stated that the U.S. non-manufacturing PMI rose from 50.0 in September to 52.4 in October. On the surface, the PMI data suggests a steady performance of the U.S. economy in the early fourth quarter. However, due to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, official economic data has been "blacked out," making the economic outlook even more uncertain. Weak export order data is consistent with the manufacturing survey results released by ISM on Monday, which pointed out "prolonged trade tensions." As orders rise, input costs for service businesses have also increased, but at a moderate pace, in line with recent data showing a cooling of inflation in the service sector.