Week of Jan 3 2014- Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“There’s only one growth strategy: work hard.” – William Hague
1. Masses of healthcare enrollments incomplete — As of last week, only around half of those who had signed up for healthcare coverage offered by over 100 insurers in 17 states under Obamacare had paid for their plans. Uncertainly now focus on whether insurers can process those payments and issue membership when the coverage takes effect in January 2014 .
2. China’s factory activity continues slows — the latest two surveys have indicated that China’s manufacturing sector slowed in December, with the official PMI falling to 51 from 51.4 in November and the HSBC print slipping to 50.5 from 50.8. New export orders disappointed in both readings, while employment contracted further in the official index. “Domestic and overseas demand was weaker than expected,” says economist Li Heng.
3. Improvement in Spanish (EWP) jobs situation better than expected — Spanish jobless claims dropped by 107,600 to 4.7M in December, the second-largest fall ever recorded after the June figure plummeted by over 127,000. The decline in December was far greater than the drop of 2,500 in November and consensus for -24,300. The improvement in unemployment adds to evidence that Spain is slowly digging itself out of its massive recession.
4. Final 2013 Country Stock Market Performance — courtesy of BIG, below is a look at the final stock market performance numbers for 76 countries around the world (% chg in local currencies).
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
