Two more positive signals for the economy today: In December, American service industries posted their strongest showing since May 2006, according to the Institute for Supply Management's non-factory index. The index reached 57.1, beating the analysts' estimate of 55; anything over 50 is supposed to indicate growth ahead. The service industries index covers approximately 90 percent of the American private-sector economy.
It's probably no coincidence, then, that the ADP estimate of jobs produced by the private sector was very strong as well. ADP has the private sector adding a whopping 297,000 jobs in December, which is the most for any month since they began doing these estimates in 2001. If the official government unemployment report, which is due out on Friday, is anything like that, it will be the best news this economy has seen in a long time.
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