U.S. ISM Non-manufacturing Business report up in March. Weekly Jobless claims jump. - CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

April 3, 2008 - Forex Economic News

U.S. ISM Non-manufacturing Business report up in March. Weekly Jobless claims jump.

U.S. non-manufacturing business activity edged up in March but still contracted according to a report released today by the Institute for Supply Management. The Non-manufacturing Index(NMI) showed a score of 49.6 percent in March after a score of 49.3 percent in February and surpassed market expectations of a 48.5 percent score. The NMI equally weights the index scores of business activity, new orders, supplier deliveries and employment. A score below 50 is considered contracting or declining while a score above 50 is considered an expanding sector. The business activity index score increased to 52.2 percent in March from 50.8 in February while new orders also rose above 50 percent to 50.2 percent from 49.6 percent in February. The Employment Index remained the same from February at 46.9 percent.

US Weekly Jobless Claims jump.

U.S. new jobless claims increased for the week ending March 29th by 38,000 people to a seasonally adjusted total of 407,000 from a revised total of 369,000 claims the week before according to data released today by the U.S. Labor Department. A four week moving average of unemployment claims showed an increase of 15,750 workers to a rate of 374,500. Workers continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending March 22nd increased by 97,000 to 2,937,000, up from the week before which saw 2,840,000. A four week moving average of continuing claims increased 32,250 from last week to 2,859,000. Last week's moving average registered 2,826,750.

Tags: ism non-manufacturing, institute for supply management, jobless claims, weekly employment, us

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