Factory activity as measured by the Institute for Supply Management, formerly the National Association of Purchasing Management, rose to an index level of 48.2 in December.
The dip from 55.3 to an index level of 50.9 is much sharper than investors were predicting and comes a business day after a less than pleasant revision to first-half GDP.
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The put option gives buyers of that option the right to sell the index at the strike level of 4600, profitable if the index falls below 4600.
Mike Lenhoff, a stock market strategist who is also from Brewin Dolphin, is optimistic about prospects for European equities for the rest of 2009 and has a year-end target of 5, 000 points for Britain's FTSE 100 all-share index, a level it has hovered around for the last month.
But first, the bears would have to push the index through the 1300 level.
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The index has a median level of zero points, which represents no change in confidence from the previous quarter.
Among large non-manufacturers, the index reached its highest level in 15 years.
The Arkansas-based company is the primary funder behind the Sustainability Consortium, a multi-stakeholder initiative that is developing a sustainability index at the product level.
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On Wednesday, stocks were boosted by the much better numbers from the ISM on manufacturing, as the index hit its highest level in eight months.
The advanced GDP price index is at its lowest level since the second quarter of 1998.
He also cited a move in the dollar index back above the 80 level.
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That's up from a reading of 61.9 in March, bringing the index back to its February level.
This was the first negative reading since December 2010 and the lowest level for the index since August 2010.
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Lesh also cited a U.S. dollar index back above the 80 level.
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Markit's new orders index fell below the 50 level for the first time since December 2010, dropping to 49.6 from October's 52.9 as underlying demand remained weak.
On the other hand, an acceleration in the inflation rate to just 3.0% would be expected to boost the level of the index by 8.92% annually through 2019.
Since the Moscow Exchange had its IPO, Russian markets fell noticeably on crude oil, and last week the MICEX index dropped to the lowest level since November 2012.
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Providing a more recent picture, the Chicago PMI Index fell below the 50 level that marks expansion and contraction in September, coming in at 49.7, its lowest level in three years.
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The level of the index reflects the looseness of financial conditions: an increase in interest rates or the exchange rate leads to a tightening, a rise in share prices to a loosening.
The Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.1% to its lowest level this year, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.4%.
The Russell 2000 index is now at the same level as in January of this year.
Their first just-released global index provides rankings at the country level.
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Apart from the strength of the rally, the Friday close was important as it pushed the index past the 12, 214 level reached on September 12, 2008, i.e.
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The cereal index, which hit its highest level since 2008, was the focus of the report, as the FAO estimated that a tightening market on the back of a weak year for cereal production in 2010 will put additional pressure on prices.
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In other overnight news, the German ZEW economic expectations index rose in March to its highest level in three years.
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In New York, the Dow Jones index jumped above the 15, 000 level for the first time in history before slipping back slightly.
This past week, the index came close to retesting the breakout level again, and a strong weekly close is needed to improve the technical outlook.
It was reported this morning that the Producer Price Index, measuring inflation at the producer level, rose 0.8% in November, its biggest gain since March.
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