Service Sector, Jobs | featured news

The pace of growth in the services sector slowed modestly in October as new orders slipped, though employment improved to its highest level in seven months, an industry report showed on Monday.

The euro zone's economic woes accelerated last month and China's slowdown looked likely to extend to a seventh quarter, surveys on Wednesday showed, while the United States proved the bright spot with better-than-expected news on services and jobs.

Signs of weakness in the U.S. economic recovery mounted as reports on Wednesday showed a sharp slowdown in the vast services sector and less hiring by private companies in April.

The economy's service sector grew in January for the first time since September while the pace of job losses moderated, a private trade group said Wednesday.

U.S. private companies hemorrhaged nearly 700,000 jobs in February and the service sector slump deepened as the year-old recession showed little sign of abating, according to data released on Wednesday.