ADP Posts Strongest Reading In Three Years

The market was set to open higher this morning after Asian markets bounced overnight and Europe was trading higher before our markets even opened. There were comments from ECB President Trichet that helped calm markets in Europe, and even hints of increased bond purchases by the ECB. There were also several positive PMI manufacturing readings from abroad.

But the news that really juiced our markets was the ADP Employment report, which showed that payrolls expanded by 93,000 in November. Not only is that much stronger than the 58,000 consensus expectations, but it marks the best reading in three years. This has investors optimistic that Friday's jobs report could come in strong as well. (current consensus for Friday is 130,000)

The dollar is lower, on big gains by the euro. But the euro has already started to fade a bit from its early highs. Commodities are mostly higher, with oil up to $85.75 and gold up slightly to $1388.

The 10-year yield is bouncing sharply to 2.92% today; and the volatility index (VIX) has fully reversed its huge bounce yesterday. So far it is down -12% back to the 20.80 level.