Saturday 8 February 2014

Markets rise, US unemployment falls

Markets rallied again on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.7 percent and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.9 percent.

Bonds joined the rally on Friday. US ten-year Treasury yields fell two basis points to 2.68 percent while German 10-year yields fell three basis points to 1.66 percent.

Markets rallied on Friday amid mixed economic data.

In the US, employment rose a disappointing 113,000 in January but the unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent, the lowest since October 2008.

In Germany, industrial production fell 0.6 percent in December, exports fell 0.9 percent and imports fell 0.6 percent.

However, in the UK, industrial production rose 0.4 percent in December while the trade deficit plunged after exports rose 2.7 percent and imports fell 5.2 percent.

In China, the HSBC/Markit services PMI fell to 50.7 in January from 50.9 in December.

However, in Japan, the leading economic index rose to 112.1 in December from 111.0 in November while the coincident index rose to 111.7 from 110.7.

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