By CountingPips.com
U.S. Manufacturing data, released today by the Institute for Supply Management, showed that December’s manufacturing activity grew for the 17th straight month. December’s ISM Report On Business index reading for economic activity rose to 57.0 from November’s reading of 56.6 and provides new hope that the US economic recovery may gain momentum in the new year. According to the report, the overall 
U.S. economy expanded for the 20th straight month in December.
A score above 50 percent is considered to be growth and less than 50 percent is considered to be contraction in that sector. Market forecasts were predicting a reading of 57.0 for the month.
Norbert J. Ore, chairman of the ISM Business Survey Committee, stated in the report that, “The manufacturing sector continued its growth trend as indicated by this month’s report. We saw significant recovery for much of the U.S. manufacturing sector in 2010. The recovery centered on strength in autos, metals, food, machinery, computers and electronics, while those industries tied primarily to housing continue to struggle. Additionally, manufacturers that export have benefitted from both global demand and the weaker dollar.”
The indexes for new orders, production, prices and backlog of orders all showed increases for December while inventories, employment, supplier deliveries, imports, exports and customer inventories fell for the month.
The new orders index increased by 4.3 percentage points to a reading of 56.6 in December and has increased for 18 consecutive months while production rose by 5.7 percentage points to a 55.0 score and has advanced for 19 straight months.
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed in forex trading today against the other major currencies on the first full day of trading in 2011. The dollar has gained so far today versus the British pound, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar while falling against the euro, Canadian dollar at 12:31 pm EST, according to currency data by Oanda. The dollar is currently trading virtually unchanged against the Swiss franc from the start of today’s trading.
The U.S. stock markets have been trading sharply higher today with the Dow Jones rising by over 100 points, the Nasdaq increasing over 40 points and the S&P 500 up by over 15 points at time of writing.
in commodities, Oil has edged higher by $0.80 to the $92.18 per barrel level while gold futures are lower by $2.10 to trade at the $1,419.00 per ounce level.
