March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non-manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 percent of the economy, rose to 53 in February from 50.5 the prior month. A reading higher than 50 signals growth. The figure compared with economists’ median forecast for an increase to 51, according to 73 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Forecasts ranged from 48.5 to 52.9.
~~~~
*U.S. FEBRUARY ISM NON-FACTORY EMPLOYMENT INDEX 48.6 AFTER 44.6
Employment component of the index is comfortably above recession level [45] but still below 50...so...it shows an employment recovery but not an expasion....
