Positive economic data from US, China, Germany; Facebook IPO soon

Published On: February 1, 2012 | Duration: 24 min, 20 sec

Stock markets saw a midweek global rally as stocks were boosted by upbeat economic data out of China and Germany. In the US, 170,000 private sector jobs were added in January according to a survey by ADP while ISM's manufacturing index rose to 54.1 per cent in January. However, eurozone's manufacturing sector contracted for the sixth month in a row in January. Meanwhile, Facebook made headlines with its much-expected mega IPO of $5 billion, looking at a valuation of $75 - 100 billion.