{"id":429259,"date":"2026-04-06T20:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/sp-global-canada-services-pmi-47-2-versus-46-5-last-month\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:40:05","slug":"sp-global-canada-services-pmi-47-2-versus-46-5-last-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/sp-global-canada-services-pmi-47-2-versus-46-5-last-month-429259\/","title":{"rendered":"S&amp;P Global Canada services PMI 47.2 versus 46.5 last month"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"852\">\n<li data-section-id=\"tbadvn\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"125\">Services activity declined, with the PMI at 47.2 (below 50 = contraction), though slightly improved from February at 46.5<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1vs1glh\" data-start=\"126\" data-end=\"209\">New business fell again, but the pace of decline eased to a 5-month low<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1s52lhb\" data-start=\"210\" data-end=\"333\">Geopolitical uncertainty (Middle East war) weighed heavily on demand, with clients delaying or pausing projects<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"ag06w9\" data-start=\"334\" data-end=\"426\">Input costs surged to a 9-month high, driven by fuel, transport, and labor costs<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1gzs0wq\" data-start=\"427\" data-end=\"524\">\nFirms raised prices, but pricing power was limited due to weak demand and competition\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1qlm9c\" data-start=\"525\" data-end=\"623\">Employment declined for a 7th straight month, as firms cut staff or didn\u2019t replace workers\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"upmlzl\" data-start=\"624\" data-end=\"710\">Business Services and Transport sectors saw the sharpest drops in activity<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"11e4xum\" data-start=\"711\" data-end=\"852\">\nDespite current weakness, confidence improved to a 6-month high, with hopes for geopolitical resolution and stronger demand ahead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"854\" data-end=\"1038\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Bottom line: The sector remains in contraction, pressured by war-driven uncertainty and rising costs, but there are early signs of stabilization and improved sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Smith, Economics Director at S&amp;P Global Market<br \/>\nIntelligence, said:\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAnother challenging month for Canada\u2019s service sector<br \/>\nwas signalled during March, with activity and new<br \/>\nbusiness again falling, albeit at slower rates compared<br \/>\nto recent months. The impact of the war in the Middle<br \/>\nEast has led to heightened uncertainty and delayed<br \/>\ndecision making amongst clients, although firms are<br \/>\nconfident that a swift resolution would lead to an uplift<br \/>\nin activity.<br \/>\n\u201cNonetheless, the present business environment<br \/>\nis clearly challenging, with firms reporting a steep<br \/>\nincrease in their operating expenses over the month,<br \/>\ndriven mainly by increased fuel and transportation<br \/>\ncosts. However, given subdued market demand,<br \/>\nfirms\u2019 own pricing power remains restricted leading<br \/>\nto only partial pass through of higher costs to clients<br \/>\nand therefore a squeeze in margins. Understandably<br \/>\ntherefore service providers took the option to save on<br \/>\nexpenses wherever possible, with any leavers generally<br \/>\nnot replaced leading to another net fall in employment<br \/>\nover the month.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The S&amp;P Global Canada Services PMI is based on responses from roughly 400 service-sector companies across a range of industries and is designed to track month-to-month changes in business activity. It uses a diffusion index on a 0\u2013100 scale, where readings above 50 indicate expansion and below 50 signal contraction. The primary measure is the Services Business Activity Index, which reflects changes in output, while the Composite PMI combines both services and manufacturing using GDP-based weights. The data is seasonally adjusted and provides a timely snapshot of economic momentum, with the 50 level serving as the key dividing line between growth and contraction.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Services activity declined, with the PMI at 47.2 (below 50 = contraction), though slightly improved from February at 46.5 New business fell again, but the pace of decline eased to a 5-month&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}