By CountingPips.com
The U.S. Dollar has been mixed in the forex markets on a day filled with U.S. economic data while the American stock markets have traded higher today. The dollar has advanced versus the euro, British pound, Swiss franc and the Japanese yen while declining against the Canadian dollar in forex trading as of 1:34 pm EST in the afternoon of the US trading session. The Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar are trading virtually unchanged against the American
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, are having a positive session today with the Dow gaining around 20 points, the Nasdaq increasing by over 2 points while the S&P 500 is up by roughly 1.2 points. Oil has edged higher to $78.13 while gold has been unchanged at the $1,119.50 per ounce level.
Leading Indicators continue to rise
U.S. economic news releases out of the U.S. today showed that the U.S. Leading Indicators Index published by the Conference Board today increased for the tenth straight month in January. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, rose by 0.3 percent in January following a revised 1.2 percent gain in December. January’s advance failed to surpass the market forecasts which were predicting a gain of 0.5 percent for the month.
The coincident index, which is viewed as a measure of the current economic activity, increased by 0.2 percent in January while the lagging index edged down by 0.1 percent after declining by 0.3 percent in December.
An economist at the Conference Board, Ken Goldstein commented on the report saying, “The cumulative change in the U.S. LEI over the past six months has been a strong 9.8 percent, annualized. This signals continued economic recovery at least through the spring.”
Jobless Claims increase last week
A release by the U.S. Labor Department showed that weekly U.S. jobless claims increased in the week that ended on February 13th. New jobless claims grew to a total of 473,000 unemployed workers, an increase over the prior week by 31,000 workers. A 4-week moving average of unemployed workers fell by 1,500 workers from the prior week to a total of 467,500.
Meanwhile, workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending February 6th was unchanged at 4,563,000 unemployed workers. A four week moving average of continuing claims declined by 24,000 to 4,585,750.
Producer Prices gain more than expected
The Producer Price Index, released in a separate report by the Department of Labor, rose more than expected in January as energy costs increased and boosted inflation on finished goods. Producer prices increased by 1.4 percent in January following an increase of 0.4 percent in December and have now increased for four straight months. The annual rate of increase for Janaury showed that producer prices were 4.6 percent higher than January of 2009 after December’s annual rate registered a 4.4 percent increase.
Market forecasts were expecting monthly producer prices to gain by 0.8 percent and the annual rate of increase to register 4.4 percent.
Core producer prices, excluding food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 percent in January following no change in December and surpassing market expectations of a 0.1 percent gain. On an annual basis, core producer prices advanced by 1.0 percent in January compared with an increase of 0.9 percent in December and just above expectations of a 0.8 percent increase.
Helping to contribute to the increased producer prices in January was the cost of energy which advanced by 5.1 percent for the month after increasing by just 0.7 percent in December. The crude goods index climbed by 9.6 percent while the foods index also registered a 0.4 percent increase for the month.
Philly Fed Business Survey improves
The Philadelphia Manufacturing Business Index released today by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed that its survey increased in February and has remained in positive territory for the sixth straight month. The Philly general business diffusion index increased to 17.6 in February after January’s score of 15.2. A positive score is considered growth in that business sector while a negative score is considered a contraction. Continuing to show positive manufacturing levels this month in the business survey were the indexes for general activity, new orders, shipments and number of employees.
