World stocks drift; Japan, China pull back gains
Source: AP-Excite
By KELVIN CHAN
HONG KONG (AP) — Global stock markets drifted higher Wednesday after Chinese business surveys offered some optimism about the world's No. 2 economy.
KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 edged 0.2 percent higher to 4,394.82 and Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 9,957.70. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed. U.S. shares were poised to open flat, with Dow and S&P 500 futures almost steady.
US DATA: Investors are awaiting monthly reports due later in the day that will give the latest update on the world's No. 1 economy, including a survey of payrolls by private employers by ADP and the ISM index of non-manufacturing activity.
CHINA SERVICES: Shanghai shares jumped in early trading after two monthly surveys showed that activity in the No. 2 economy's service industries edged higher. The results of an official purchasing managers' index and a similar one by HSBC, which showed that new orders rose at their fastest in two and half years, were encouraging signs after a recent string of downbeat data.
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Pedestrians are reflected on an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. Japanese and Chinese shares led Asian markets higher Wednesday as the Nikkei touched a fresh high on the yen's slump and Chinese business surveys offered some optimism about the world's No. 2 economy. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
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