A report has shown that the pace of growth in the US services sector unexpectedly eased in April to its lowest level since August 2010.
This came on top of an earlier report showing a smaller than expected increase in job numbers at US businesses last month.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services index fell to 52.8 last month from 57.3 in March, well below economists' forecasts for 57.4. A figure above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
The report's new orders index tumbled to its lowest level since December 2009, falling to 52.7 from 64.1. The employment measure dipped to 51.9 from 53.7.
Earlier, recruitment firm ADP said US private companies added a seasonally adjusted 179,000 jobs, slowing from an upwardly revised 207,000 net new jobs in March. Most analysts estimated non-farm payrolls would grow by 200,000 in March.
The latest data 'shows that labour market conditions continued to improve in April, but only at a moderate pace,' ADP said.
'While employment accelerated sharply around the turn of the year, the monthly gains have been holding fairly steady around 200,000 since then. Employment growth at this pace is consistent with only modest declines in the unemployment rate,' it said.
The ADP report on non-farm payrolls comes ahead of Friday's keenly awaited government data on the jobs market, which has improved in recent months but only from depressed levels as the economy grapples with a weak recovery from the worst recession in decades.' '
A separate report on company layoffs showed downsizing continued but at a slower pace. Employers announced plans to cut 36,490 jobs from their payrolls in April, 12% fewer than in March, said global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Economists expect the Labor Department to report on Friday that the economy created 185,000 non-farm jobs in April, with a decline in public-sector jobs offsetting an increase of 200,000 positions in the private sector.
In March, the economy added 216,000 non-farm jobs, the sixth consecutive month of gains. The private sector gained 230,000 jobs, the 13th month of improvement in a row. The government is expected to report the unemployment rate held steady in April at 8.8%, unchanged from the prior month.
