ADP employment data (152,000 vs 175,000) and weakness in the employment component of the US services PMI have kept the market’s risk appetite subdued. Survey respondents cited “adjusting our employment and capital investment strategies and managing borrowing”, “feeling the economic slowdown”, “reducing recruitment with slight price increases”, and “high interest rates leading to reduced capital investment and slowing upgrades to major facilities”. This has led to the market turning a blind eye to the strongest overall performance of the non-manufacturing ISM index in 9 months (53.8 vs 51).