“There have only been two periods in the past 25-year timeframe when the ISM Services employment number has been as low as it was reported to be on Friday: Fall 2008 and April 2020,” cautioned Hedgeye Macro/Financials analyst Josh Steiner on The Call @ Hedgeye today.
Employment fell -7.4% to 43.3 in December’s Services ISM report—that’s the largest M/M decline since June 2020 and the lowest level in two-plus years.
“This is a really, really, weak print,” Steiner said.
“Don’t forget that January and February are going to be worse than December,” added Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough. “We can only say the same thing so many different ways.”
For more in-depth analysis on the state of the economy, tune into a free episode of The Macro Show at 9am ET Tuesday, January 9.