Quote of the Day: Service Sector Remains Strong, But....

The good news in today's QOTD is that the service sector is still humming along fine, signaling that -- for the time being -- we need not worry about recession (ISM above 50 denotes confidence and continued expansion). The bad news is that sentiment has waned a bit  of late, and the cause is a totally avoidable top-down creation:

CNBC's Gillian Brassil:

"The Institute of Supply Management's index fell to 55.7 percent, nearly 3 percentage points below an expected decline to 58.6 percent from 59.1 percent in June, according to economists polled by Reuters.

The majority of the 16 service industries which responded to the survey cited escalating trade tensions as a primary concern.The tit-for-tat tariffs between the U.S. and other global economic powers took a bite out of business activity despite positive sentiment on domestic conditions.

"Tariffs and deliveries are an ongoing concern," said Anthony Nieves, chair of the Institute of Supply Management. "The majority of respondents remain positive about business conditions and the economy.""