“When you think of services, a lot of it is driven by the consumer, and consumers are key to where the U.S. economy goes. We’re starting to see stress in more and more households.”

James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, commented on The Institute for Supply Management’s latest monthly survey that gauges economic activity in the services sector and showed that consumer demand seems to have tapered off so far this summer. Read the CNN article, “A Key Part of America’s Economy Has Shifted Into Reverse.”