NEW YORK – “Service sector activity grew moderately in January,” according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond service-sector activity survey, released today, “Within the service sector, retail activity strengthened compared to last month, while services firms experienced softer growth than a month ago. Retail sales accelerated in January, with a jump in shopper traffic. In addition, the on-going decline in big-ticket sales slowed markedly. Some retail inventory-building occurred. At services-providing firms, revenues expanded, although to a lesser extent than in December. Survey respondents continued to hold a confident outlook for prospects over the next six months; however, their predictions were somewhat less optimistic than in December.”
The indexes are the percentage of responding firms reporting increase, less the percentage reporting a decrease.
Overall, the service sector revenues index decreased to 12 in January, from 21 in December, while the number of employees index slid to 9 from 15, the average wage index rose dipped to 9 from 10, and the expected product demand during the next six months index slumped to 10 from 26.
By sector, the retail area excluding services firms reported the sales revenues index gained to 33 in January from 25 in December, the number of employees index fell to negative 8 from zero, while the average wages index gained to 25 from 20. The inventories index slipped to 19 from 32, while the big-ticket sales index improved to negative 9 from negative 25. The shopper traffic index gained to 30 from 9, while expected product demand during the next six months fell to 15 from 35.
For services firms excluding retail, the revenues index was 9, compared to 17 last month, while the number of employees index slid to 12 from 21, and the average wage index slipped to 5 from 8. The expected product demand during the next six months index fell to 11 from 23.
The current price trend for the two sectors together fell to 0.36 from 0.65, while gaining to 1.16 from 0.84 for retail alone and slowing to 0.16 from 0.55 for services, excluding retail.
The expected price trend index for the two sectors together fell to 1.23 in January from 1.31 in December, while increasing to 1.40 from 1.26 for retail alone and dipping to 1.22 from 1.36 for services, excluding retail.
All firms surveyed are located within the Fifth Federal Reserve District, which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and most of West Virginia.
