U.S. business activity contracted for a fourth straight month in October, with manufacturers and services firms in a monthly survey of purchasing managers both reporting weaker client demand, the latest evidence of an economy softening in the face of high inflation and rising interest rates.

S&P Global said on Monday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 47.3 this month from a final reading of 49.5 in September.

A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the private sector. Outside the slump during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, business output is retreating at the swiftest pace since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, by S&P Global’s measure at least.