The United States private sector business activity registered the fastest increase in nearly a year during March, according to a report published by S&P Global on Friday, with the PMI composite output index surging to 53.3 points.
The services business activity index jumped to an 11-month high of 53.8 points. In the same period, the manufacturing output index rose to 51.0 points to set a 10-month high, while the manufacturing PMI expanded to a 5-month high of 47.3 points.
"It will be important to assess the resilience of this demand in the face of the recent tightening of interest rates and the uncertainty caused by the banking sector stress, which so far only seems to have had a modest impact on business growth expectations," noted Chris Williamson, S&P Global's chief business economist.
