|
News
-
Financial News
|
U.S. manufacturing activity accelerated for a second straight month in December after staying nearly flat during the late summer and early fall, with signs of bigger increases to come.The Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers survey index rose to 53.9 last month from 52.7 in November, reaching a 6-month high. It has stayed above 50, indicating expansion, since August 2009.U.S. stock indexes jumped in the new year's first trading day on the upbeat manufacturing figures. Positive construction spending data also helped. [Read the full article]
Those headlines beat expectations, but are in line with recent upbeat U.S. labor and other economic data, even as global growth slows. The labor force continued to shrink, though, and the seasonality of some gains could dampen January's report.The transportation and warehousing sector added 50,200 jobs last month. But that may be temporary. While Labor seasonally adjusts employment figures, the ongoing shift toward online shopping is creating a hiring pattern that may yet not be accounted for, says Robert DiClemente, chief U.S. economist for Citigroup.In January 2010 and January 2011, transport and warehouse firms gave back gains in the prior month, he pointed out."I do think quite a bit of it is seasonal," said Marisa Di Natale, director of economic research at Moody's Analytics.Stripping out holiday-related hiring, she estimated December hiring at about 160,000. Not outstanding, but "pretty decent" and "picking up."Several areas added jobs that are less seasonal. [Read the full article]
|
