activity in the us services sector slowed in october to the lowest level since the onset of the covid19 pandemic amid the tightening of monetary policy and the squeeze in consumers incomes due to high inflation the institute for supply management said thursday that its index of services activity fell to 544 in october from 567 in september the lowest figure since may 2020 economists polled by the wall street journal expected the ism index to come in at 555 the index which is based on a survey to services providers across the us suggests activity among services providers expanded still at a solid pace as it was above the 500 threshold that indicates growth the data also signal the services sector is holding up better than the manufacturing sector the ism manufacturing index released tuesday showed factory activity eked out only a modest expansion in october the services sector saw a pullback in growth for the second consecutive month due to decreases in business activity new orders and employment said anthony nieves chair of the ism services business survey committee the business activity index fell to 557 from 591 signaling slower output growth the new orders index decreased to 565 from 606 pointing to moderating demand we have a general concern that sales volumes are trending down as buyers communicate that theyre planning to buy only what they need for immediate sales a respondent from the agriculture forestry and fishing sector said the employment index fell to 491 from 530 suggesting services providers employment levels were broadly unchanged amid increasing uncertainty there are still challenges in hiring qualified workers and due to uncertainty regarding economic conditions some companies are holding off on backfilling open positions mr nieves said the supplier deliveries index increased to 562 from 539 but the data suggest that supplychain and logistical bottlenecks arent as encumbering as they were in earlier 2022 inflation pressures persisted despite lower supplyside constraints with the prices index increasing to 707 from 687 we are experiencing a bullwhip of oversupply on some goods  while still desperately short on other goods said one respondent from the wholesale trade sector the market is recovering very inconsistently