July IVEY PMI at 65.5 vs consensus at 61.0, came in better than expected, says Stewart Hall of HSBC. "The question to ask is what is contributing to this uncharacteristic spate of purchasing activity?" he says. Labor problems in the auto sector idled someOntario vehicle manufactures and may have "played havoc with the typical summer shutdown schedule" which in turn affected purchasingactivity. The data suggests a stronger overall economy, Hall says. However, he reminds that the IVEY does not always correlate well withthe overall economy. Market focus now shifts to Friday's July unemployment report. HSBC looks for the unemployment rate to rise to 6.3% from 6.2%, with consensus looking for unchanged. HSBC sees a drop of 10,000 in terms of job losses, in line with consensus.