Activity in industry and services in the US increased at a record pace in April. This was shown on Friday by preliminary figures from Markit Economics.
The Purchasing Managers Index for the services sector rose from 60.4 in March to 63.1 this month, which is the highest level ever recorded by Markit.
The same was true of the provisional Industry index, which improved from 59.1 to 60.6.
The combined purchasing managers index thus rose from 59.7 to 62.2 in April, which was also the highest score ever, according to Markit.
Economist Chris Williamson spoke of a strong start to the second quarter, including an impressive vaccine rollout in the US, as well as the massive stimulus being pumped into the economy.