Standard Chartered widens on warning

If investors were looking for clues on Friday's US non-farm payrolls, they may have emerged confused after conflicting datasets were released.

The ADP employment survey showed that 215,000 jobs were created in November, easily beating the consensus estimate of 170,000. The previous month was also revised higher to 170,000 from 130,000. Strong new home sales figures - the October number was up 21.6% compared with last year - provided further evidence of improving US economic health.

But the ISM non-manufacturing PMI - a leading economic indicator - dampened optimism. The survey came in at 53.9 in November, down from 55.4 in October and well below expectations, while the employment index fell to 52.5 from 56.2.

The disappointing ISM figures helped the markets recover some of the ground lost earlier in the day. A bumper jobs report on Friday - as suggested by the ADP number - would heighten fears that the Fed will taper QE before the end of the year. Today's ISM survey, particularly the employment component, suggests that the central bank will hold fire until next year. Risk assets are highly dependent on the largesse of the Fed, and bullish investors are fearful of premature tapering.

The Markit CDX.NA.IG was flat at 70.5bps, while the Markit iTraxx Europe was 1bp wider at 82bps. Standard Chartered was among the weakest performers after it issued a profit warning. The bank said its core emerging markets have been badly hit this year and highlighted problems in its Korean business, where Standard is taking a $1bn write down.

Standard Chartered's CDS spreads widened 10bps to 118bps following the news. This is still significantly tighter than the 194bps level it was trading at in June. But the bank has underperformed many of its rivals this year, and the 50bps differential to HSBC is considerable compared with 5bps in January.

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