The pressure on prices may be relieved a little bit, but not a whole lot.
Overall the report indicates that the non-manufacturing sector is moving right along. We seem to have recovered from the hurricanes, even though the index is down slightly.
Companies are willing to hire more people because they have confidence that at least in the near future, business will be strong.
Members report severe slowing of October business activity resulting from the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist events, which aggravated already-weak business conditions.
The overall indication in December is continued economic growth in the non-manufacturing sector with a cautiously optimistic outlook as we enter 2006.
Many members' comments expressed concern about the continuing rise in oil and gas prices.
Even though the index has been going down, prices are at pretty high levels. It appears that the recent drop-off in oil prices in particular is probably behind the drop this month, but the list of commodities that are up in price is a pretty long list and it's pretty broad.
The main reason for the decline in the price index in December was the decline in energy prices -- while the index is down, it's still at a historically high level.
This second month of non-manufacturing growth, at a higher rate of growth than in November, appears to indicate that November's growth was not entirely due to a rebound from October's low point following the events of Sept. 11.
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