By CountingPips.com
The U.S. Leading Indicators Index published by the Conference Board today increased for the second straight month in May. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, registered a 1.2 percent increase in May following a revised 
increase of 1.1 percent in April. The index had declined by 0.3 percent in March. May’s increase beat the market forecasts which were predicting a gain of 1.0 percent for the month.
Consumer expectations, real money supply, stock prices, building permits, interest rate spread, supplier deliveries and manufacturers’ orders for nondefense capital goods helped positively contribute to the leading index. Manufacturers’ new orders for consumer goods & materials, weekly jobless claims and average weekly manufacturing hours were negative sectors impacting the leading index.
The coincident index, which is viewed as a measure of the current economic activity, decreased by 0.2 percent in May after falling in April by 0.3 percent while the lagging index also decreased by 0.2 percent after declining by 0.8 percent in April.
Weekly jobless claims show small rise, continuing claims decline.
Weekly U.S. initial jobless claims edged up in the week that ended on June 13th according to the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims totaled 608,000 unemployed workers, an increase of 3,000 from the week prior. The 4-week moving average of unemployed workers fell by 7,000 from the prior week to 615,750 workers.
Meanwhile, workers seeking continued claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending June 6th decreased by 148,000 workers to a total of 6,687,000 unemployed workers. This was the first decline in continuing claims since early in January and the largest decline in over seven years. The four week moving average of continuing claims grew by 2,250 workers from the previous week to 6,757,500 workers.
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed today in forex trading against the other major currencies. The dollar has been higher versus the euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and the British pound while trading lower against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar.
The euro has fallen versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has gone from its 1.3958 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.3898 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 2:42pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has fallen today as the GBP/USD has declined from its 1.6392 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.6325 usd per gbp. The dollar has gained versus the Japanese yen and trading at 96.52 after opening at the day at the 95.78 exchange rate.
The dollar has advanced versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.1340 after opening the day at 1.1310.
The dollar has increased against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0867 after opening at 1.0796 today while the dollar has been weaker against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.8004 after a 0.7958 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.6395 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.6330.
GBP/USD Chart – The British Pound falling today versus the US dollar in forex trading and moving below its 100 hour moving average (red).
