By Lucia Mutikani
January 24, 2025 – 6:56 AM PST
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. business activity slowed to a ninth-month low in January amid rising price pressures, but firms reported boosting hiring, supporting the Federal Reserve’s cautious approach to cutting interest rates this year.
S&P Global said on Friday that its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, declined to 52.4 this month. That was the lowest level since April and was down from 55.4 in December. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the private sector.
The services sector accounted for the drop in the PMI, with manufacturing expanding for the first time in seven months on hopes of “looser regulation, lower taxes and heightened protectionism” under President Donald Trump’s new…
