Tainted Alpha

ISM Manufacturing Index for December came out at 55.9 vs. 54.8 consensus and 53.6 reading for November.

Construction spending for November  fell -0.6% M-o-M (-13.2% Y-o-Y) vs. -0.5% consensus and flat reading for October.

The news of the day came out of China. China Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.1. Bloomberg story: Chinese Manufacturing Grows by Most Since April 2004. The news propelled both equity and commodities higher. If we look at the components, it is evident that the increase has come on the back of stronger output and domestic orders. Export orders are expanding at a slower pace. Cost pressure is also rising. A mixed bag of impressions.

Chart 1. HSBC China Manufacturing PMI

Also we can see that the PMI has reached some sort of resistance level. Maybe a short-term maximum.

China, ISM Manufacturing Index, U.S. Construction Spending

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.