The U.S. nonmanufacturing sector’s expansion picked up steam in May, bucking economists’ expectation for it to slow, according to the Institute for Supply Management. But the group’s reading on employment declined and price pressures contracted.
Financial chiefs from the Group of Seven leading nations pressed Europe during a teleconference to act more aggressively to tame its escalating debt crisis. The officials expect euro-zone leaders to bolster their banking system in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported. Spain’s budget minister said earlier that the government had effectively lost access to capital markets.
European markets were mostly higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.3% as the weak data offset hopes for coordinated action to help solve the euro-zone debt crisis. But Germany’s DAX fell 0.1% to its lowest level this year. Asian markets were mostly higher, with a 0.25 percentage-point interest-rate cut in Australia helping improve sentiment.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) fell -3.24 as the provider of content delivery networks fell with Netflix providing its own such network. Facebook fell once again, hitting another all time low of $25.88 as it suffers it eight loss in its 11 trading sessions. Sandisk finished up 6.86% after the Pacific Crest analysts gave the computer memory maker’s stock an “outperform” rating.
Thomas Doherty is a student at Villanova University majoring in Finance and Economics. All questions and comments can be sent to Thomas@KeeneOnTheMarket.com