Service Industries Help Put U.S. on Even Keel: Economy

Service industries settled into a more moderate rate of growth in December, putting the U.S. economic expansion on an even keel heading into 2015.

The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index fell to a six-month low of 56.2 from a November reading of 59.3 that was the second-highest since 2005, the Tempe, Arizona-based group’s report showed today. Even with the larger-than-projected December decline, the average for all of 2014 was the highest in nine years.