Yesterday, the US economic calendar was well-filled with the jobless claims, ADP employment report, manufacturing ISM and consumer confidence the most important releases. Especially the labour market data caught the eye on the eve of the US payrolls report. Both the ADP report and jobless claims came out better than forecast, raising optimism ahead of today’s payrolls. Nevertheless, their importance should not be overestimated as the methodology of the ADP report was changed while the claims are subject to high volatility, which will remain the case in the coming weeks, especially after hurricane Sandy. More important, also the manufacturing ISM improved in October, rising from 51.5 to 51.7, while a decline was expected. Finally, also US Conference Board’s consumer confidence brightened further in October, with the headline index rising from 68.4 to 72.2. Consumer confidence came out slightly weaker than expected, but the upward trend remains encouraging, raising expectations that consumer spending will remain strong at the final quarter of the year. In the UK unfortunately, the manufacturing PMI weakened for a second straight month, suggesting that activity will slow again in Q4 after an unexpectedly strong Q3.