US Private Sectors Expands in December

December 18, 2013 Share Print 0

U.S. private-sector activity continued to expand in December as service-sector growth picked up and hiring increased, an industry report showed on Wednesday.

Financial data firm Markit said its preliminary composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) – a weighted average of its manufacturing and services indexes – was 56.2 this month, unchanged from November. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

December’s service sector PMI rose to 56.0 from 55.9 as new orders increased, prompting businesses to take on more staff. The employment index, after hitting an eight-month low of 52.4 last month, jumped to 55.7 in December, the fastest rate of growth since Markit’s data collection began in late 2009.

Across the private sector, the employment gauge rose to 55.4 from 52.4.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.