1)US Initial Jobless Claims were reported lower than expected at 202K vs the consensus of 216K for the week ending on December 30.
2)The federal government’s gross national debt has surpassed $34 trillion, a record high. It highlights the coming political and economic challenges to improve America’s balance sheet in the coming years.
3)The US Federal Reserve officials seemed convinced that inflation was coming under control, with “upside risks” diminished, while almost all participants indicated a lower target range for the federal funds rate by the end of 2024, according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting held on December 12-13.
4)Private sector employment in the US rose by 164,000 in December and annual pay was up 5.4%, the data published by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) showed on Thursday. This reading followed the 101,000 (revised from 103,000) increase recorded in November and came in better than the market expectation of 115,000.
5)JOLTs Job Openings reported by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics came in at 8.75M, below the expected 8.85M.
6)Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in the US rose by 216,000 in December, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday. This reading came in much higher than the market expectation of 170,000. Meanwhile, November’s increase of 199,000 got revised lower to 173,000. Other details of the report showed that the Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at 3.7% and the annual wage inflation, as measured by the change in the Average Hourly Earnings, climbed to 4.1% from 3.9% in November.
7)The S&P Global US Composite PMI came in at 50.9 in December 2023, little-changed from the initial projection of 51.0 and November’s 50.7.
8)The ISM Manufacturing PMI in the US increased to 47.4 in December 2023 from 46.7 in November, better than market forecasts of 47.1. The figure is a measure of the level of a diffusion index based on surveyed purchasing managers.
9)Business activity in the US service sector continued to expand in December, albeit at a softer pace than November, with the ISM Services PMI declining to 50.6 from 52.7. This reading came in below the market expectation of 52.6. Further details of the survey showed that the Prices Paid Index, the inflation component, edged slightly lower to 57.4 from 58.3, while the Employment Index dropped sharply to 43.3 from 50.7. Finally, the New Orders Index retreated to 52.8 from 55.5.
10)The Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index eased from 55.8 in November to 46.9 in December, below the market consensus of 51.0.
11)Eurozone HCOB Composite PMI remained unchanged at 47.6 in December compared to November, while the Services PMI stood at 48.8 from higher 48.7.
12)Eurozone Headline inflation rose to 2.9% y/y in Dec ‘23, up from 2.4% y/y in Nov ’23 – in line with Bloomberg consensus at 2.9% y/y but probably surprising a bit to the upside after yesterday’s German and French prints.
Core inflation dropped to 3.4% y/y – also in line with expectations, down from 3.6% y/y in Nov. Core services prices were unchanged at 4.0% y/y while core goods prices dropped to 2.5% y/y.
13)UK S&P Global Composite PMI Final rose to 52.1 in December, from 50.7 in the previous month, while the Services PMI Final rose to 53.4 in December from 50.9 in November.
14)Construction PMI in the United Kingdom increased to 46.80 points in December from 45.50 points in November of 2023. Construction PMI in the United Kingdom is expected to be 50.50 points by the end of this quarter.
15)S&P Global EU index was reported at 44.4, slightly better than the previous 44.2. In the UK, manufacturing output resulted at 46.2, worsening from the previous 46.4 and missing expectations.
16)Germany’s employment data showed that the unemployment rate stood pat at 5.9%, as estimated by economists polled by Reuters.
17)Japan Jibun Bank services PMI rose to 51.5 in December compared to 50.8 in November, while composite PMI came at 50.0 higher than 49.6.
18)The China Caixin services purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a private gauge of the country’s service sector, rose to 52.9 in December, increasing 1.4 percentage points over the previous month and hitting the highest level in the past five months, according to a private survey released on Thursday.
19)China’s official Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at its third straight month of contraction at 49.0 in December from the previous reading of 49.4. The NBS Non-Manufacturing PMI arrived at 50.4 in December versus 50.2 in November, weaker than the estimation .
