A stock market that has performed as bad as Spain in 2012, finally got some love overnight. The Shanghai index rallied 2.9% to a 3 week high just two days after closing at the lowest level since Jan ’09. The Hang Seng index was also up 2.2% to close at the best level since Aug ’11. Chinese authorities will no longer limit insurance company investments in banks and will take other steps to boost economic growth. Data wise in China, the private sector weighted HSBC PMI services index fell to 52.1 from 53.5 in contrast to the state sector index out a few days ago that slightly improved. In Europe, the PMI services index was revised up 1 pt led by Germany and it brought the final services and mfr’g composite index to 46.5 from 45.8. This index has stabilized but remains below 47 for the 8th straight month. EU retail sales in Oct fell more than expected. Ireland, the one country that has benefited from its particular form of austerity saw its unemployment rate fall to 14.6% from 14.7% to the lowest since Dec ’11. Spanish bond yields are higher after they sold just 4.25b of 3s, 7s, and 10s, below their target amount of 4.5b. In the US, the ADP jobs report and ISM services index are the two key data points. II: Bulls 43.6 v 39.3 Bears 25.5 v 27.7.
