December’s headline GMI reading was 58.6 – up 0.8 points on November – boosted by growing confidence in the Americas where the index was up 1.3 points to 58.8. European optimism also increased, albeit marginally (by 0.1 points) to 59.1. Asia Pacific, however, dipped slightly (by 0.6 points) to 57.2.

Warc’s data and journals editor Suzy Young said: “The latest GMI data are broadly consistent with last month and indicate improving business conditions for global marketers. It will be interesting to see if the headline GMI remains stable in the first few months of 2014 as we enter the post-holiday season and the US debt ceiling returns to the fore.”

GMI is a composite index of seperate measures for trading conditions, marketing budgets and staffing levels.

Global trading conditions saw a marked improvement to 62.7, while marketing budgets climbed 1.1 points to 57.3. However, staffing levels were down 0.6 points to 55.8.