In the American macroeconomic sector, ISM reported yesterday that activity in the service industry climbed at the highest rate in over four and a half years. The procurement manager’s index for the service industry rose to a level of 57.1 points in December as opposed to 55 points in November. The rise was sharper than predicted by economists, who expected a level of 55.6 points.
Europe's stock markets have been trading yesterday on a mixed trend with tendencies for index declines due to concerns over an escalation in the Iberian peninsula’s debt crisis. London's stock exchange, unlike continental markets, rose by 0.5% and locked on the highest level since June 2008. The Frankfurt exchange dropped by 0.5%; the Paris stock exchange dropped 0.3%. Asian exchanges recorded mixed trends this morning as well, with Tokyo's Nikkei climbing by 1.4%, Hong Kong's stock exchange trading at a light drop, and Seoul's stock exchange declining by 0.6%.
Furthermore in the macroeconomic sector, two days before the publication of the United States labour market report for December, encouraging data has been published yesterday regarding the amount of new jobs in the American private sector. The human resources company ADP has announced that the amount of new jobs added in the U.S. private sector in December was the highest in a decade, three times larger than expected by economists. The number of jobs in the American private sector leaped up in December by 297 thousand jobs three times more than predicted by economists, who predicted a rise of only 100 thousand jobs.
Note that this Friday, the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics is expected to publish the December employment report. Economists predict that 150 thousand jobs have been added to the US labour market last month, unemployment declining to a level of 9.7%.
