Wednesday 6 August 2014

S&P 500 falls despite growth in US services and factory orders

Stocks fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 declining 1.0 percent amid concern that tension in Ukraine may escalate.

Good economic data on Tuesday were unable to ensure a positive performance for markets.

In the US, Markit's services PMI dipped to 60.8 in July, slightly down from the 61.0 reading in June, which had been the highest reading for any month since the survey began in October 2009. Markit's composite PMI dipped to 60.6 in July from 61.0 in June but was still the second-highest reading on record.

Confirming the expansion in the US services sector activity, the Institute for Supply Management's services index rose to 58.7 last month from 56.0 in June.

Another report from the US on Tuesday showed that factory orders rose 1.1 percent in June, more than reversing the 0.6 percent decline in May.

In the euro area, Markit's services PMI rose to 54.2 in July from 52.8 in June. That helped push the composite index to 53.8 from 52.8.

Another report from the euro area showed that retail sales rose 0.4 percent in June. That brought the year-on-year gain to 2.4 percent, the strongest growth since March 2007.

In the UK, the Markit/CIPS services PMI rose to 59.1 in July from 57.7 in June. The composite PMI rose to a three-month high of 59.1 from 58.4 in June.

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