World stock markets this Friday celebrated a set of labor market and services sector data in the United States that eased downward pressure on prices and facilitated the work of the Federal Reserve in its fight against inflation.
at the New York Stock Exchange, The Dow Jones rose 1.84%, the S&P 500 1.68% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.86%. Treasury rates declined sharply across all debt segments.
close to closing The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1.14%, London’s FTSE 100 0.87% and Frankfurt’s DAX 1.20%.
in Chile, The S&P IPSA rose 0.14% to 5,131.38., while the exchange rate fell to its lowest since June. It was previously reported that the annual inflation rate in December was 12.8%, lower than the previous month.
low pressure
This morning, the US Department of Labor reported that 223 thousand non-farm payrolls were created in December, which is more than 203k expected, but lower than November’s 256k (revised below). for his part, Unemployment rate fell to 3.5%With forecasts pointing to 3.7%.
The biggest surprise came in the pay sector. Average wages rose 4.6% year-on-year, four-tenths less than expected and two-tenths less than the November figure, also revised downward. Moreover, it is the lowest annual rate in 16 months.
The data is considered relevant to anticipating price level advances in the framework of feared “second round” inflation, and is therefore an important input for the Federal Reserve in the design of its monetary policy.
Shortly afterwards and in America as well, The Institute of Supply Management’s Services Index unexpectedly fell into contraction territory (below 50 points) and hit a new low since May 2020. The tertiary sector comprises about three quarters of the US economy.
And finally, November factory orders fell 1.8% month-over-month in November—more than the 1.0% expected by analysts—Another sign that the Fed has been successful in its mission to cool the economy.
The week was marked by notes of caution from job offers, the ISM Employment Index, the ADP report on private payrolls and requests for unemployment benefits, all pointing to continued tightening in the labor market.
The minutes of the last Fed policy meeting were also making noise, indicating that a The Committee’s determination to maintain its restrictive policy for “some time” and to avoid the risks of “unwarranted relaxation”.
Europe and Asia
The old continent had earlier collected some positive figures. Inflation in the euro area fell to an annualized 9.2% in December, according to a preliminary Eurostat report.
The figure is three-tenths less than what was recorded in the polls, although data from Germany, France and Italy had already indicated the result.
except, Eurozone retail sales up 0.8% in Novembertwo-tenths more than expected, and The Economic Confidence Index also surprised, rising to its highest level since August.
Asian stock markets closed mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.59% and mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.31%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.29%.
Although, The week was particularly benign for the Hang Seng, which finished the period up 6.33%. he followed her CSI, with an increase of 3.22%while Nikkei lost 1.39%.
Hong Kong’s index has gained most of the optimism due to reopening measures and economic support, which Chinese authorities have dedicated themselves to deepening in recent days. Overall, there is uncertainty due to the Covid crisis in the Asian giant.
