Expansion in Service Sector Slows in March

Economists had forecast the index would fall to 55.5, Bloomberg News reported.

The index averaged 56.1 in the five years prior to the recession that began in December 2007.

ISM’s services index measures nonmanufacturing components of the economy. The services sector, which includes transportation, retail sales and financial services, accounts for nearly two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product.