4 March 2010 | Jake Kanter

Economic activity in the US continued to strengthen across all sectors last month, according to the latest figures from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

February’s non-manufacturing ISM Report on Business showed activity reached 53 per cent, compared with 50.5 per cent the month before.

Industries reporting growth included retail, transportation and warehousing, and finance and insurance.

Overall, production activity increased 2.6 percentage points to reach 54.8 per cent last month, while new orders also increased 0.3 percentage points to hit 55 per cent in February.

“Conditions for our business have substantially improved over the past three months,” said one report respondent.

Earlier this week, February’s manufacturing ISM Report on Business posted its seventh consecutive month of growth. Activity in the industry rose to 56.5 per cent last month, a slightly slower rate of growth than the 58.4 per cent recorded in January.

New orders and production levels continued to increase, along with staff numbers and input prices.

Further coverage of PMI reports is available here.