IFR-Preview-US Sept non-manufacturing activity seen weaker

WHAT: Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing

Purchasing Managers Index, September

WHEN: Wednesday 1000 EDT (1400 GMT)

FORECASTS Reuters IFR Previous ISM index 53.2 52.9 53.7

IFR COMMENTARY: "Our call is for the ISM Non-Manufacturing index to slip from 53.7 to about 52.9 for September, reflecting generally weak economic conditions. With the fiscal cliff on its way, even construction is unlikely to have been a positive contributor, with falling public construction canceling out a positive trend in private activity. Uncertainty will likely weigh particularly heavily on the new orders and employment indices.

The powerful headwinds restraining the economy have softened even the typically resilient services sector, though so far still not to levels typical of a recession. While we expect the ISM NMI print to imply only meager growth, it should be all too typical a print for this recovery."

-- by Theodore Littleton of IFR Markets, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

((--Reuters Economics and Markets desk, [phone]))

((Washington newsroom, 202 898 8318))

Keywords: IFR PREVIEW/USA