INSTANT VIEW: Chicago PMI index rises in Dec vs Nov

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Business activity in the U.S. Midwest continued to shrink in December but at a less severe rate than expected, and input prices fell sharply, a report showed on Tuesday.

KEY POINTS: * The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago business barometer rose to 34.1 from 33.8 in November. * Economists had forecast the index at 33.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion while a reading below 50 indicates contraction. * The employment component of the index rose to 39.6 from 33.4 in November. * Prices paid fell to 30.5 from 50.7 and new orders rose to 29.4 from 27.2.

COMMENTS:

KURT KARL, CHIEF US ECONOMIST, SWISS RE, NEW YORK:

"The uptick in the Chicago data is interesting but given the survey is not a very wide one, I'm not sure there's a lot of reason to be excited about the report. Actually, we are not seeing markets react much to any of the reports, first because most of the information has been factored in already and second, liquidity is really low."

MICHAEL WOOLFOLK, SENIOR CURRENCY STRATEGIST, THE BANK OF NEW

YORK MELLON, NEW YORK:

"Really at this point we are not going to be seeing anything fundamentally positive from the U.S. for the time being. However, the dollar is trading on something other than the fundamentals right now with investors largely sidelined for the holidays. We are anticipating consumer confidence in 15 minutes and that is likely also not to have too much influence on the dollar."

MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: U.S. equity indexes higher after better-than-expected Chicago PMI. BONDS: U.S. Treasuries widen losses after data. DOLLAR: U.S. dollar little changed after data.

DATA RELEASED EARLIER DEC. 30

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