Aside of the usual buyback of the shares at the beginning of the year stocks were driven up by positive macroeconomic reports of the United States
and certain countries around the world. There was also hope from Europe's largest economy, Germany, which reported that the average number of
people unemployed there last year was the lowest in two decades. Germany has an unemployment rate of 6.6 percent, compared with 8.6 percent
in the United States. Chinese manufacturing index rose in December, reversing a November slide and raising hopes that China's economic
slowdown is under control.
 

UAIndex