US Review

Nonfarm payrolls increased 321,000 in November, well above expectation. But tame wage growth was still a drag to economic recovery, with the average hourly earnings increasing only 2.1% year over year (0.4% after adjusting for inflation), and labor participation rate remained at incredibly low level of 68% unchanged. There was also little improvement in terms of long term unemployed and partially unemployed.

The ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing indices remained in expansion territory, with gains in the new orders and export orders components.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed slightly in October, as export grew more than imports, however, this comes after a significant increase of the deficit in the previous month.

Global Review