By CountingPips.com
Economic news releases out of the US showed that the Leading Economic Indicators Index (LEI) published by the Conference Board today increased for a third consecutive month in September. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, rose by 0.3 percent in September following increases of 0.1 percent in August and a 0.2 percent in July.
The September LEI advance matched the market forecasts which were expecting a gain of 0.3 percent for the month.
The coincident index, which is viewed as a gauge of the current economic activity, returned a flat reading for a second
An economist at the Conference Board, Ataman Ozyildirim commented in the report saying, “The LEI remains on a general upward trend, but it is growing at its slowest pace since the middle of 2009. There isn’t any indication of a relapse into another downturn through the end of the year.”
Philly Fed Business Survey turns positive
The Philadelphia Manufacturing Business Index released today by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed that its survey increased in October and turned into positive territory after a negative reading for two straight months. The Philly general business diffusion index rose to 1.0 in October after September’s score of -0.7. A positive score is consider growth in that business sector while a negative score is considered a contraction.
Contributing to the higher level this month were increases in the indexes for new orders, shipments, delivery times, prices paid, average employee workweek and number of employees.
Jobless Claims fall by 23,000
A release by the U.S. Labor Department showed that weekly U.S. jobless claims declined in the week that ended on October 16th. New jobless claims dropped to a total of 452,000 unemployed workers, a decrease over the prior week by 23,000 workers. The 4-week moving average of unemployed workers fell by 4,250 workers from the prior week to a total of 458,000.
Workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending October 9th decreased by 9,000 workers to a total of 4,441,000 unemployed workers. The 4-week moving average of continuing claims declined by 23,250 to 4,478,000.
US Dollar rises as Stock Markets positive
The US dollar has been higher in the forex market trading following today’s US economic news while the US stock markets ended the day in positive territory. The dollar has advanced versus the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Canadian dollar in today’s forex trading action.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, ended today’s session in positive territory with the Dow gaining 38.60 points, the Nasdaq increasing by 2.28 points while the S&P 500 is higher by 2.09 points. The Dow Jones had briefly gained by over 100 points and touched above its highest closing level of the year at 11,205 (April 26 close) in earlier trading before reversing course lower.
In commodities, oil has traded lower by $1.89 to $80.65 while gold has fallen by $18.10 to trading at the $1325.20 per ounce level.