"The US services sector, the bulk of the world's largest economy, contracted in November after two months of growth amid a budding recovery from recession, a private survey showed Thursday. The Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index dropped to 48.7 percent last month, 1.9 percentage points lower than the 50.6 percent reading in October. The fall in the ISM index below 50.0 percent, indicating contraction, surprised analysts, who had forecast on average an increase to 51.5 percent in the non-manufacturing sector, which makes up more than 85 percent of the US economy." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet